showrecentcomments({"version":"1.0","encoding":"UTF-8","feed":{"xmlns":"http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom","xmlns$openSearch":"http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/","xmlns$georss":"http://www.georss.org/georss","id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-24T03:58:59.833Z"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Newington Blogspot"},"subtitle":{"type":"html","$t":""},"link":[{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default?alt\u003djson-in-script"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/"},{"rel":"hub","href":"http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/"},{"rel":"next","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default?alt\u003djson-in-script\u0026start-index\u003d26\u0026max-results\u003d25"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"}}],"generator":{"version":"7.00","uri":"http://www.blogger.com","$t":"Blogger"},"openSearch$totalResults":{"$t":"40"},"openSearch$startIndex":{"$t":"1"},"openSearch$itemsPerPage":{"$t":"25"},"entry":[{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-8983577832292566138"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-18T13:26:00.007Z"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-18T14:05:11.602Z"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":""},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"I have never been a fan of the Turner Centre or the building its going to be housed in.\u003cbr /\u003eI happen to believe that the whole concept is just arty, farty pretentious tosh and wont be the driver for regeneration that many believe it will be. Last night at Scrutiny we received a presentation from Dereck Harding who heads up the Margate renewal programme. In his presentation we saw a picture of the Turner Centre under construction. \u003cbr /\u003eSome of you will remember that I got into trouble a while back for posting \u003ca href\u003d\"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2008/08/where-do-they-get-these-pictures.html\"\u003eTHIS\u003c/a\u003e and this picture.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqSqB7-tFSw/SwP8KWYQL3I/AAAAAAAAABw/bIoYDSkrUkA/s1600/mgatefront.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;\" src\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqSqB7-tFSw/SwP8KWYQL3I/AAAAAAAAABw/bIoYDSkrUkA/s320/mgatefront.jpg\" border\u003d\"0\" alt\u003d\"\"id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405441232510922610\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNow below is a (poor quality) picture taken recently from roughly the same spot.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jqSqB7-tFSw/SwP8usgK-uI/AAAAAAAAAB4/tgii-OEurLc/s1600/turnerbuild.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 232px;\" src\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jqSqB7-tFSw/SwP8usgK-uI/AAAAAAAAAB4/tgii-OEurLc/s320/turnerbuild.jpg\" border\u003d\"0\" alt\u003d\"\"id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405441856925006562\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis I think more than adequately demonstrates the overbearing and destructive nature of the building and its not even finished yet. The view that was being enjoyed by the couple in the top picture has been totally destroyed and the Turner Centre will overshadow that part of Margate like some dark satanic mill. As I said in my original post the easy bit is getting folks to come to Margate in the first place the hard part is getting them to come back for a second and third time, sitting in a pleasant seafront cafe surrounded and hemmed in by a concrete monstrosity is hardly the way to encourage folks back is it now?\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-8983577832292566138?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/8983577832292566138/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d8983577832292566138\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"4 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/8983577832292566138"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/8983577832292566138"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/11/i-have-never-been-fan-of-turner-centre.html","title":""}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqSqB7-tFSw/SwP8KWYQL3I/AAAAAAAAABw/bIoYDSkrUkA/s72-c/mgatefront.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"4"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-7802435494475427383"},"published":{"$t":"2009-08-23T15:35:00.002+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-08-23T15:42:03.451+01:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":""},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Idly flicking through the blogs I don’t seem to be popular boy at the moment with a few people!\u003cbr /\u003eNot only do some of the comments display an alarming ignorance of the process that will be followed during the Night Flying Consultation period but some folks seem to think that it is a done deal with me having already made the final decision. Nothing of course could be further from the truth, the final decision on whether to allow the application or allow an amended version will be made at a full Council meeting early next year based on the results of the consultation taking into account ALL the comments.\u003cbr /\u003eSome of the comments about me would quite rightly result in me being taken to The Standards Board if I had made them about the individuals making them. I have no problem with people having a different point of view from me about any subject but lets try and keep it civil and adult and not descend into insults.\u003cbr /\u003eMy thanks to Smeggers for his reasonable attitude despite our differing attitudes, also to Malcom Kirkaldie for his apology. \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e***********************************************************************\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOnto less controversial things, we have recently bought a trailer tent and have already had several short breaks away and have been very lucky with the weather so far, we haven’t been quite so lucky with a couple of the sites we have chosen. We are members of \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/\"\u003eThe Caravan and Camping Club\u003c/a\u003e also \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/\"\u003ethis website\u003c/a\u003e and before going we always look at any reviews from previous visitors and if possible visit the campsites website. Most of these promise you an idyllic setting with peace and quiet, the reality is sometimes a bit different.\u003cbr /\u003eWe went to one site that had got reasonable reviews and looked great on the web. We weren’t expecting a 5 star site but something reasonable. How wrong can you be!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eKids still running riot at ½ past 12 in the morning, 4 teenagers in the tent next to us who insisted on talking loudly all through the night, every other tent seemed to have two dogs with them and if one started barking the whole campsite was set off barking, site was on a slope, not normally a problem but when it rained on Thursday morning due to the hard ground we had a river running through our awning, the site advertised a fishing lake but it turned out to be nothing more than a pond. There were 85 pitches but only one shower and two toilet cubicles per sex. \u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jqSqB7-tFSw/SpFULDaCPMI/AAAAAAAAABY/xfGLsXwcxPA/s1600-h/tina+at+brakes+coppice..JPG\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;\" src\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jqSqB7-tFSw/SpFULDaCPMI/AAAAAAAAABY/xfGLsXwcxPA/s320/tina+at+brakes+coppice..JPG\" border\u003d\"0\" alt\u003d\"\"id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373168379299511490\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e  Despite all this and apart from the rain early on Thursday morning  we had a nice break and were visited by my Stepdaughter and family who took us out to a smashing pub for dinner.\u003cbr /\u003eEven the fact that on the way back my nearside brake calliper decided to seize on and we completed our journey on the back of an AA lorry didn’t dent our enjoyment or enthusiasm and we are planning our next trip only this time it will be to an adult only site that don’t allow dogs !\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-7802435494475427383?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/7802435494475427383/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d7802435494475427383\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"7 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/7802435494475427383"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/7802435494475427383"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/08/idly-flicking-through-blogs-i-dont-seem.html","title":""}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jqSqB7-tFSw/SpFULDaCPMI/AAAAAAAAABY/xfGLsXwcxPA/s72-c/tina+at+brakes+coppice..JPG","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"7"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-5038393408614345083"},"published":{"$t":"2009-07-24T11:08:00.001+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-07-24T11:13:51.737+01:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Mini riot in Cecil square"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"At last nights Council meeting there were some bright spots and some dull ones. It is worth noting at this point that there were twenty three items on the agenda only one of which required an actual decision. Whether this is a result of the Cabinet system or plain and simple inaction on the part of the Tory Administration I will leave you to decide.\u003cbr /\u003eAnyway back to the action, as part of the meeting we were to have two new items The Chief Executives report and The Leaders report. Note at this point there is no provision in the Constitution for these items but nonetheless it is probably a good idea to be updated as to what is or isn’t going on. Nor is there any talk of allowing questions or discussion on these reports but that will be addressed when it is considered by the Constitutional Working Party.\u003cbr /\u003e The Leader was apparently going to give a Powerpoint presentation with his report and this was when trouble‘t mill started. Having cleared the Chairman’s bench and all the top dogs had moved themselves to another part of the chamber and the screen had been lowered the first slide appeared! \u003cbr /\u003eThe first words to appear were something like ‘The Council is facing financial Armageddon’ it immediately became apparent that the Council was to be treated to a Party Political broadcast by The Leader, this provoked a furious reaction from the Labour benches not least from Myself, several of us immediately leapt to our feet to protest and chaos ensued for a few moments with the Leader vainly trying to continue with his presentation. \u003cbr /\u003eMy objection is very simple, as Councillors we are constantly reminded that we represent ALL the people in our Wards and not just those who voted for us, by the same token The Leader is the leader of the whole Council and not just the Ruling Group, this applies equally whoever is in power. Nor is there any rule that says the leader of the Ruling Group has to be the Leader of the Council. As the Council Leader is elected by the whole Council I feel it is wrong that the minority groups should be subjected to a Party Political diatribe. As this report was supposed to be a report on what the Council has been up to is  wrong to use opportunity  to score political points in this way. \u003cbr /\u003eThe Chairman, Cllr Margaret Sheldrake, to her credit recognised the problem this was causing and refused to allow The Leader to continue, despite this he started to desperately flick through the slides in the vain hope that they may have some impression on Members. \u003cbr /\u003eEventually order was restored, top dogs returned to their seats and we continued. Sitting in the audience were the Chair and Vice Chair of the Standards Committee, quite what they made of it I don’t know but I do know that what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong and it is wrong for a senior Member of Council to try and use his position to berate members about the financial position the country finds itself in and to somehow place all the blame on The Government when we all know but appear to have forgotten that the current financial situation was initially brought about by the irresponsible lending in the US sub prime mortgage market.\u003cbr /\u003eCo-incidentally I hear differing reports about whether this presentation also shown to the Tory Group beforehand.\u003cbr /\u003eThere was more excitement a bit later when poor old Tom Betts from Your Thanet got his wrist slapped for daring to take a picture of the Council in session to put beside a report he is going to write for his paper. \u003cbr /\u003eQuite why this paranoia exists about someone taking a picture of some old duffers sitting about talking about stuff is beyond me!\u003cbr /\u003eIf you read this Tom can I suggest that you just write to the Chief Executive and ask permission to take a few pictures during a meeting for publicity purposes.\u003cbr /\u003eOf course if TDC were to stream their meetings onto ‘tinternet like a modern Council would Public could actually see us at ‘work’.\u003cbr /\u003eAfter ‘The Incident’ with Tom Betts the public were unceremoniously ejected, a decision incidentally that the Labour Group spoke and voted against, we proceeded to the only item requiring a decision this was the one about the future of the old Pleasurama site.\u003cbr /\u003eA lively and interesting debate then followed during which some potentially actionable remarks were made about the Labour Groups due diligence checks on the original plan and Developers and the Officers that made them. This caused an outbreak of harmony and The Leader leapt to his feet to correct the offending Tory and defend what went on at the time and remind Council that the proposal was agreed at the time by the whole Council.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-5038393408614345083?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/5038393408614345083/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d5038393408614345083\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"10 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/5038393408614345083"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/5038393408614345083"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/07/mini-riot-in-cecil-square.html","title":"Mini riot in Cecil square"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"10"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-2074386398658684789"},"published":{"$t":"2009-06-27T20:44:00.000+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-06-27T20:46:45.074+01:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Manston Matters"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"I attended Friday nights meeting of KIACC at Manston that was wrongly advertised as “tonight's night flight blight meeting “ ECR or “one more reason to go and berate the snout in the trough leader tomorrow night.” by SEMG on Big News and lord alone knows what on the “voice of the minority” from Herne Bay.\u003cbr /\u003eApart from the collection of usual nimby anti everything suspects there were quite a few, I counted about 60 to 70, other interested members of the public and local luminaries. Among them Dave Green Chairman of RTC, Clive Hart, Labour Group Leader TDC, Liz Green and Chris Wells KCC Councillors and a couple of other District and Town Councillors including Gerry O’Donnell.\u003cbr /\u003eNotable by his absence, \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight:bold;\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-style:italic;\"\u003eagain\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e, was Paul Carter the Leader of KCC who sent some feeble excuse about ‘a prior family event’ I am not the brightest person in the world but if ever I am asked if I can do something not in the Council diary I always ask the Domestic Authority if I am free. And I don’t have an office full of staff to organize me and I had dragged Myself out there despite feeling absolute rubbish as anyone who heard me coughing, hacking and barking at the back will testify, if I can do it so can he. I may be doing him an injustice but I think he just plain chickened out of coming to Thanet to explain his odd pronouncement that ‘planes from Manston take off straight out to sea’ and in any case Manston Airport is a Thanet matter any decisions about its future operations will be taken by TDC not KCC.\u003cbr /\u003eOn to the meeting itself, the Chairman Paul Twyman gave a couple of short reports on various issues with a couple of contributions from members of the committee.\u003cbr /\u003e We then had a presentation from someone from Minster Church about what they had done with the non existent money from the non existent fines that are apparently not being collected to be distributed among local groups and organizations also cash from the same non existent fund had been given to a group from Herne Bay who provided a visual display. \u003cbr /\u003eThen on to the ‘Main Event’, The Public Speaking. To be honest it was a all a bit of a let down really, as expected Steve Higgins and Peter Binding stood up and vainly tried to justify their position re the Airport, a lady from one of the suburbs of Herne Bay, Ros McIntyre from Broomfield,  gave quite a good presentation on why planes shouldn’t be flying over her house, some speakers defended the Airport and I would guess that the audience was split about 50/50 for and against although some antis were a bit undecided and seemed to support the Airport but with adequate controls.  \u003cbr /\u003eAs the meeting was for the Public I didn’t say anything although it was doubtful if I could have got a full sentence out the way I was feeling.\u003cbr /\u003eRight at the end an old fella got up and spoke against the Airport and edging ever closer to the Chairman ended his speech with a flourish and produced a banner that said something like ‘No To Night Flights and No To Training Flights’.\u003cbr /\u003eOne thing that did strike me was the appalling acoustics in the place, added to the fact that obviously many of the speakers were not used to public speaking, (no criticism intended) and merely mumbled into their chest area it made it very difficult to hear what was actually being said by some of them, of course the same comments could be made about some members of the Committee!\u003cbr /\u003eWhat if any conclusions can be drawn from this I don’t know but I expect that the hardcore antis will hail it as a triumph and insist that this was the voice of the majority of Ramsgate Residents.\u003cbr /\u003eBy now I had almost lost the will to live and dragged Myself off home and into My pit.\u003cbr /\u003eYou can also read another report \u003ca href\u003d\"http://marknottingham.blogspot.com/2009/06/paul-carter-reported-to-standards.html\"\u003eHERE.\u003c/a\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-2074386398658684789?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/2074386398658684789/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d2074386398658684789\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"7 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/2074386398658684789"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/2074386398658684789"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/06/manston-matters.html","title":"Manston Matters"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"7"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-6754840337493514721"},"published":{"$t":"2009-06-16T13:27:00.003+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-06-16T14:03:19.813+01:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Town Council up and running."},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"I was at last nights inaugural meeting of Ramsgate Town Council to witness the birth pangs of this newly elected body. Like most births it was a drawn out painful affair starting with the head emerging. As some of you will know this is usually the most painful part of the process and so it turned out to be. In front of a packed house, there were probably 60 people in the audience, The Midwife, TDC’s Head of Legal Services struggled manfully to get through the process but was thwarted by the various factions voting on strictly party political lines. Nominations for Chairman of the new body were Pat Doyle, moved by Jill Kirby, Dave Green, moved by Steve Ward and Ralph Hoult, moved by Gerry O’Donnell.  Eventually following an elimination vote where the candidate with the lowest number of votes drops out Ralph Hoult was eliminated. Following another failed attempt to elect it was agreed that the two remaining candidates should address the Council in an attempt to break the deadlock. This resulted in Dave Green emerging victorious. He made a short acceptance speech and then presented retiring Mayor Kay Dark with a commemorative badge. Next on the agenda was to elect a deputy for Dave Green, this was achieved in no time at all as Ralph Hoult was elected unopposed.\u003cbr /\u003eWe then moved on to something headed ‘Style of the Council’ this was just to decide whether to mutate into a Town Council or remain as a Parish, it was duly agreed that Ramsgate should have a Town Council as Ramsgate is indeed a Town.\u003cbr /\u003eIt was also agreed that the Town Council should meet on a monthly basis except August and December at 7pm, then it was onto the formation of the various committee’s that actually make a Council work. It was decided to form three main ones, a planning committee, a finance \u0026 general purpose one and an allotments committee. The normal rules of political balance apply so no one group will be over represented anywhere.\u003cbr /\u003eNext it needed to be decided where the Councils home would be, obviously Albion House has to be the choice but as TDC seem intent on flogging it off there is some doubt about this so it was agreed that RTC should sort of squat at Albion House until agreement can be reached. It was accepted that RTC will have to pay a commercial rent for the place but arguments lay ahead about the condition of the building and who will pay for it to be made fit for purpose not to mention making it DDA compliant. The rest of the meeting was taken up with even more turgid and soporific debate and items until it came time to exclude the press and public although by this time considerable numbers of the public had decided that Horlicks and News at Ten was a considerably more enthralling prospect and had left.\u003cbr /\u003eQuite rightly in my view the Council decided NOT to exclude the public as there were to be no discussions about individuals salary levels or performance.\u003cbr /\u003eSome of the new Members obviously didn’t understand that the Town Clerk is not the person that takes the minutes and writes reports, he or she is in fact RTC’s Chief Executive or indeed that he/she will also have to be the Section 151 Officer. I wont explain what a 151 Officer is here other than to say that all councils that spend public money have to have one and they have to have a CIPFA qualification.\u003cbr /\u003eDetails of what a 151 officer is and does can be seen \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.bournemouth.gov.uk/Constitution/Part4/FinFramework/partIII/section_151_officer.asp\"\u003eHERE.\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e I am very concerned that Gerry O’Donnell seems the believe that you can advertise a job and then start negotiating pay and conditions either at the interview or after you have appointed someone. No one worth their salt is going to apply for a job where the terms and conditions or salary range are not on offer up front.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAlso discussed was what interim assistance may or may not be needed from TDC until RTC actually employs its own staff.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI suspect that the 60 or so folks in the audience who came looking for some kind of revolution and some world changing actions and decisions went home disappointed, unfortunately Annual Meetings are always rather long drawn out turgid affairs.  No doubt in the coming months RTC will start making decisions that will have a far reaching effect on the Residents of Ramsgate including potentially increasing your Council Tax.\u003cbr /\u003eI also noticed in the assembled multitude some ‘furiners’ there was among others, from Birchington John (am I an Independent, no I am an Independent in public and a Tory in private) Worrow. From Westbrook there was Cllr Dean (call me Bert) McCastree and from Margate Cllr John (Snowy) Watkins. I can only assume that they were there to gather information about how a Town Council looks and works having as they do aspirations in that direction themselves.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI am still concerned that some of them are unable to grasp the basic premise that if you are going to spend money it has to come from somewhere and the only source of income are the Taxpayers of Ramsgate but only time will tell if I am being unduly pessimistic .\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-6754840337493514721?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/6754840337493514721/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d6754840337493514721\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"13 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/6754840337493514721"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/6754840337493514721"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/06/town-council-up-and-running.html","title":"Town Council up and running."}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"13"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-7164479222308798589"},"published":{"$t":"2009-06-11T15:52:00.000+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-06-11T15:53:49.447+01:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Some Random Ramblings."},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"I read with some incredulity the Real Madrid have just paid Manchester United £80 million for Ronaldo, add to that the £56 million they paid for Kaka a couple of days ago all adds up to a staggering £136 million quid and they are still on the lookout for more players.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e(For Ken Gregory’s benefit Ronaldo and Kaka are football players and Real Madrid and Manchester United are football clubs, football is probably the biggest spectator sport in the UK, although fishing is the biggest participation sport!)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn addition to the transfer fees these players and others in the squad will command something like £100,000 quid a WEEK in wages you can see that  when you compare these mind numbing sums of money to the mere pittance plus expenses that our MP’s are expected to survive on it puts it into perspective.\u003cbr /\u003eFor those of us on a rather more modest income we read about these things with a sense of disbelief, the sums being bandied about frequently exceed our total income for eight or nine years and I am sure that a lot of the people who I represent would be glad of my yearly income never mind the weekly income of some people. Although I fully accept that MP’s who have constituencies in Cornwall or Leeds, Manchester etc cant go home after a day at the office it seems to me that there are thousands of folks who live in the South East of England who commute daily to and from London and most of these manage to get into their office’s by 9 am so I don’t accept that MP’s who live within the same distance of London as their commuting constituents should have a second home. Parliament no longer sits through the night so even with a late night most of them should be able to catch the late train home if not bed and breakfast would be a perfectly acceptable and legitimate expense. The added bonus of this would be that they would have to suffer the same trials and tribulations as the normal passenger and maybe then something would be done about the state of our railways and possibly even get the trains to run on time more frequently than now.\u003cbr /\u003eJust as an aside to this post what most of you wont know is that for some strange reason any MP who is also a Minister HAS TO HAVE a London address, again I can understand that for senior Ministers but quite why the Minister for Broom Cupboards and Loft Ladders is required to live in London I don’t know.\u003cbr /\u003eNow the expenses furore has died down and the Government have said they will change the system although only time will tell Journalists (spit) are moving their attention onto the outbreak of Swine Flu. As usual they are all becoming excited at the prospect of a pandemic and the reporting of it is becoming more and more hysterical bulletin by bulletin. If you believe what they are saying more and more people are becoming infected and we will all be dead in our beds by the Autumn. The figures quoted are of course the total number of people who have caught the disease since the outbreak began not the number currently suffering from it, and in any case 750 cases out of a population of 55million is hardly cause for hysteria. If you stuck a nought or two on the end of that figure I could understand the concern. All this assumes of course that in the meantime Mars doesn’t collide with Earth sending us all into oblivion !!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI am off this evening to a briefing on something called The Working Neighbourhood Fund, this is a fund that among other things is supposed to help people find work or give them the skills to help them find work.\u003cbr /\u003eI shall find whether this is true or if it is just another excuse to line the pockets of the Consultants and Middle Class Groupies and  Luvvies who seem to be employed by these schemes in great numbers and who spend their time telling the proletariat what they should or shouldn’t be doing but not actually achieving any positive results.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-7164479222308798589?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/7164479222308798589/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d7164479222308798589\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"5 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/7164479222308798589"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/7164479222308798589"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/06/some-random-ramblings.html","title":"Some Random Ramblings."}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"5"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-4146073726499097581"},"published":{"$t":"2009-06-07T19:22:00.002+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-06-07T19:27:34.846+01:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":""},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Well it’s been a busy week for me after a week doing nothing but lazing about.\u003cbr /\u003eA few meetings and lots of running around in the lead up to my Stepdaughters wedding on Friday. This was held at The Blazing Donkey near Sandwich and we were treated to an overnight stay at the hotel. Apart from the fact that Stepdaughter and new Son-in-Law were very happy and it all went well I will gloss over the value for money or the lack of it at a venue that is supposed to be one of the best.\u003cbr /\u003eSaturday saw me at a celebration of ten years of Richard Nicholson’s leadership of the Labour Group on TDC. Members of the Group past and present were in attendance to celebrate the past ten years. We reminded ourselves of some of our achievements, who for example remembers York Street in Ramsgate as it was? We were told that it was not possible to do anything about it but we did under Richards’s leadership, Christchurch University was another thing that was achieved under him, we started the process that led to Westwood Cross \u003cU\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight:bold;\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-style:italic;\"\u003eincluding a new road layout that was promptly abandoned by the Tories in 2003,\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/U\u003e then when the Sally line left it was Labour under Richard Nicholson who had the replacement ferry company in place the next day these and many other things have been forgotten in the furore over MP’s expenses that have resulted in the bad showing and awful results for Labour in the Elections.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight:bold;\"\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://thanetonline.blogspot.com/2009/06/sunday-ramble-quex-farm-open-day-and.html\"\u003eMeanwhile over on Michael Child’s blog he accuses Labour Bloggers of not talking politics so I will say that sadly the real issues have been overshadowed by this scandal and the very real achievements of the Labour Government have been forgotten.\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eConsider the following real issues.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e*   David Cameron's Conservatives do nothing but talk Britain down and would cut support for families during these tough economic times.\u003cbr /\u003eLabour is investing now so we are best placed to take advantage of the upturn when it comes. Labour believe that we should grow our way out of recession not cut our way out of recession.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e *   David Cameron and George Osborne are alone in believing that we should not grow our      way out of recession but cut our way out of recession. Their approach is isolated, incoherent and unfair - they would cut help for families.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e*   At a time of recession the Conservatives have said they would: \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e    *   Cut Labour's guarantee that all people under the age of 25 who are unemployed for a year will receive either a job or training. \u003cbr /\u003e       \u003cbr /\u003e *   Cut this year's £60 cash boost for pensioners while threatening to do away with free TV licenses and free bus passes for the elderly.   \u003cbr /\u003e      \u003cbr /\u003e*   Cut support for families under real pressure who need to defer interest payments so they don't lose their homes.               \u003cbr /\u003e *   Scrap the right for every patient to see a cancer specialist within two weeks if they are suspected of having cancer.   \u003cbr /\u003e        \u003cbr /\u003e*   Cut £160m from crime-fighting budgets - the equivalent of losing three and half thousand police officers.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI wont even mention the Ramsgate Town Council election results other than to say that already the maneuvering and skullduggery to be appointed Mayor has started.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-4146073726499097581?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/4146073726499097581/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d4146073726499097581\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"11 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/4146073726499097581"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/4146073726499097581"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/06/well-its-been-busy-week-for-me-after.html","title":""}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"11"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-5254044074187324303"},"published":{"$t":"2009-05-31T19:20:00.000+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-05-31T19:21:18.018+01:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Well I am back,,,,"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Well, back from my holiday renewed and refreshed and ready for whatever the world can throw at me for another year.\u003cbr /\u003eOf course holiday’s are a time for relaxing and generally slobbing about, none of this activity holiday lark for me, dossing about by the swimming pool suits me just fine. This of course involves wearing a swimming costume, having dutifully packed my trusty knitted woollen swimming trunks (older readers will remember those go swimming, get out of pool, trunks fall down due to weight of water retained in trunks!) I was smartly told no way was I going to wear those so a trip to a well known sportswear retailer was duly convened. Now call me old fashioned but for swimming I like swimming trunks but apparently you cant buy those anymore unless you want to spend a months wages on a pair of what Olympic swimmers wear, you have to have bathing shorts. Shorts of course is a misnomer, shorts as the name implies should finish somewhere between your groin and knees but today it seems to refer to anything that finishes short of your ankles, or something that looks like Eric Morecombe’s boy scout shorts in that memorable sketch.  “Its fashionable” I am told, well I couldn’t care less, I flatly refuse to walk about wearing something that looks like a normal pair of trouser that have shrunk in the wash. I am old enough to remember the way that younger brothers and sisters had to wear hand me down clothes and how they never fitted properly now young people pay small fortunes for ill fitting ridiculous looking clothes. Why do kids who go skateboarding have to wear trousers with the crutch flapping round their knees? Not only do they look silly they must be bloody uncomfortable.\u003cbr /\u003eOf course being on holiday also involves eating out, on arriving at a restaurant you are presented with a menu, most dishes nowadays are given fancy names and equally fancy prices but when you enquire of the waiter what exactly is this dish you are given some arty farty fancy dandy explanation but when you reduce it to basics is it one of two things, stew or grilled meat, after finishing your stew or grilled meat that has been stewed or grilled with some unmentionable, unpronounceable and virtually inedible sauce laced with god knows what strange herbs you come to the coffee. Now this in itself is a journey into the unknown, when you ask for “coffee please” you are given a choice, just from memory there is a choice of, Espresso, Cappuccino,  Espresso Lungo, Espresso Americano, Ristretto, Latte, Macchiato, Doppio, Mocha.\u003cbr /\u003e“ Err, no thanks, I JUST WANT A CUP OF COFFEE,,,” \u003cbr /\u003e “ Well Sir we have Espr,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e“ Look forget the coffee, bring me a cup of tea please”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e“ Would Sir like Assam, Darjeeling, Ceylon, Formosa Oolong, Souchong, Lapsong, Bing Bong, Sing Song or Ying Tong”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e“ look, forget it, just bring me the bill.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhich brings me to the point of this post and that is the interpretation of modern language ie,\u003cbr /\u003eLatte, Espresso etc means you have just paid to much for that cup of coffee,\u003cbr /\u003eLapsong, Suchong, Ding Dong etc means a bloody expensive cup of tea,\u003cbr /\u003eFashionable means you are about to be ripped off for a piece of tat that makes you look like a complete and total wally.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-5254044074187324303?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/5254044074187324303/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d5254044074187324303\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"4 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/5254044074187324303"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/5254044074187324303"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/05/well-i-am-back.html","title":"Well I am back,,,,"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"4"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-1091923004747254708"},"published":{"$t":"2009-05-08T14:09:00.002+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-05-08T19:03:38.581+01:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"A little bit of politics"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"A bit of politics today with the upcoming set of elections looming but first a nod in the direction of Simon Moores who has been elevated to TDC’s Cabinet to replace the sacked Jo Gideon.  I suppose that many people especially in Westgate had high hopes of our Simes when he was first elected the TDC. He was perceived to be one of a new breed of Tory who would stand up to the Leadership and tell it like it is but he seems to have been sucked in and now sits within a Cabinet that has overseen a series of disasters and non actions and will have to sit by as the Council continues to lurch from crisis to crisis unable to stand up and be critical. This of course assumes that the notion of Collective Responsibility has been explained to him!\u003cbr /\u003eA bit closer to home is the small matter of elections to Kent County Council and particularly Ramsgate Parish Council.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI am told that the BNP are putting up a candidate in Ramsgate, what they seem to have overlooked is the fact that many of Ramsgate’s residents fought to defeat a fascist party in Germany and will have no truck with people who dress themselves up as patriots but are no better than the Nazi party in Germany during the 1930’s.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOn a rather more serious side there are some well known ‘names’ appearing on the statement of persons nominated posted outside TDC’s offices.\u003cbr /\u003ePat Doyle and Peter Landi who have asserted their independence and disinterest in party politics on many occasions have appeared as official Tory candidates. To those of us who are veterans of Ramsgate political scene this comes as no surprise whatsoever.\u003cbr /\u003eAlso poking his head above the wall is one Eric Easton, during the time he was a District Councillor several rumours were circulating about him and his business dealings, as with all these things they turned out to be nothing more than rumours, what is an undoubted fact is his reluctance or inability to actually come to a decision, I can remember that whenever a difficult or controversial decision had to be made it was always Eric who was the first to propose that we had yet another report to add to the several we already had.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eRather more amusing is the fact that G.O.D. aka Gerry O’Donnell has put his name forward as a candidate in the Ramsgate Parish election. Despite assertions about candidates in every ward, a strong group of people, blah, blah, blah it seems that Ramsgate First can only muster one candidate and that is, err their Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Secretary, Treasure, Committee and total membership of err, erm, err ONE !!!\u003cbr /\u003eOf course non of the other usual suspects have put their heads above the parapet to test their somewhat bizarre policies and theories on the voters. As usual these people are very quick to criticise Councils and Councillors and tell everyone and anyone how much better, cleverer, wiser and more knowledgable they are but when push comes to shove they dont have the courage of their convictions, or maybe they are all so clever they have managed to get their nomination papers in late !!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI don’t feel quite so grumpy now.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-1091923004747254708?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/1091923004747254708/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d1091923004747254708\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"9 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/1091923004747254708"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/1091923004747254708"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/05/little-bit-of-politics.html","title":"A little bit of politics"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"9"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-364008791657605718"},"published":{"$t":"2009-05-01T20:51:00.001+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-05-01T20:57:19.562+01:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Grump, Grumpy and Grumpier"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"My grumpiness has been particularly active for the last couple of weeks due to several factors.\u003cbr /\u003eI had to attend an interview at the Job Centre because after 11 weeks out of work I havn’t found a job. Clearly the real world hasn’t caught up with these folks yet, they obviously havn’t noticed that unemployment is rising and the Job Centre have had to open up another two signing points to cope with the increase locally. Anyway the guy I saw was rather more in touch and a fairly realistic interview followed, up until the point that is that he asked me if I had thought of using some thing called a Work Trial. The way this works is that if you see a job you fancy you apply for it and enclosed one of the cards they give you for the prospective employer. You then get to work at a job for two weeks to see if you like the job and the employer likes you, great, smashing, super you might think, well yes but the only snag is that you don’t get paid any wages !!!  So to summarise an employer gets two weeks free labour, says you are not suited, please send me someone else. Shades of the discredited YTS Scheme methinks.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e‘Er Indoors has been hassling me to try and repair the leak in the pond for some time now so I decided to make the effort, now its not that hard to find a leak is it ? fill pond up, watch edges for bubbles coming in through leak in liner, drain some water from pond, repair leak, refill pond. After several hours on my hands and knees crawling round the edge of the pond I couldn’t find any evidence of a leak despite the fact that the water was going down. To cut a long story short and after trying several coats of pond paint to no avail The Domestic Authorities decided that a new pond was the solution. Apparently ‘we’ wouldn’t have much of a problem doing it!! \u003csigh\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSo I got dragged round various pond selling places to choose a new preformed liner that was roughly the size and shape of our existing pond, we eventually found one that was  near enough and got it home. It was at this point it became obvious that the one we had bought was considerably deeper than our existing pond. So not a problem….’we’ could dig it out. \u003c bigger sigh\u003e so in the interests of marital harmony I set to work with my shovel, due to the necessity of moving the pond around to accommodate the shape I had to dig out some of the existing rockery that bordered the old pond. This in turn now looked ‘funny’, \u003cYes dear,,sigh\u003e back to work with my shovel to completely dig out the rockery, this of course now leads us to something to replace it,,,result is that we have a big bag of pea shingle delivered 900kg  worth that has to be carried from the front of the house to the back and spread out. It was then decided that as we have several bamboo bushes along the fence we should have a sort of Chinese Feng Shui garden shape, this means that we now have to buy some bamboo rolls similar to log rolls to create a border around the shingle. Nearly two weeks later what started out as a simple job for a couple of hours is finally finished. It is Sods Law that these things always take on complications and take a lot longer than originally planned.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI also got dragged around the supermarket the other day and was surprised to see on sale breakfast bacon, breakfast orange, breakfast eggs, breakfast tea and something called salad leaves, what ever happened to bacon, eggs, tea, orange juice and lettuce? Is this yet another example of the creeping Americanisation of our society.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eTV Chefs have also been taxing my patience lately, they all seem to have taken to messing around with classic regional dishes and ‘improving’ them, the Spikey Haired one who apparently went to Broadstairs College has taken some Caribbean dishes and   'improved' them, the dozy Canadian has been messing with classic Italian food and others have been busy interfering with various foods that have stood the test of time. In my opinion these people are no better than the arty farty pretentious types who tell us that the Turner Centre will improve our intellect and social outlook as well as curing all Thanets problems at a stroke.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOn a brighter note I managed to escape for a weekends fishing with a couple of friends of mine at a place near Ashford, the weather was really decent and we caught fish as well. The positive side of this is that these guys have no interest in politics at all and we spend most of the weekend talking about anything and everything except politics, they are also merciless in taking the mickey out of me if the occasion demands it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAs you will have read elsewhere Richard Nicholson has stood down as Labour Group Leader after ten years of service to the Labour Group. I count Richard among my closest friends, indeed he was best man at my wedding and he shared with me in confidence his intention to stand down several months ago. So any talk of a coup is misplaced, misdirected and should be discounted. Ten years is a long time to carry the responsibility  of leadership and Richard can now take a well earned rest and spend more time in his garden that he loves so much.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-364008791657605718?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/364008791657605718/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d364008791657605718\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"3 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/364008791657605718"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/364008791657605718"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/05/grump-grumpy-and-grumpier.html","title":"Grump, Grumpy and Grumpier"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"3"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-5630281972375783072"},"published":{"$t":"2009-04-12T12:14:00.000+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-04-12T12:16:04.680+01:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Another Grumpy Day !!"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"I have just got in from being dispatched tout de suite and with much alacrity to the shops to avoid an Easter disaster, (no Yorkshire pud with the beef) as we had no eggs. Apart from the roads being virtually deserted I had completely forgotten that it was Easter Sunday and therefore nowhere would be open. The newsagents was open but that is run by a lovely Indian couple Soo and Ram for whom Easter has no meaning apart from profit from selling Easter Eggs. All the other multinational running dog capitalist conglomerates were shut apart from that is the Co-Op.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhat a sad reflection on how much our standards and principles have declined since the founding of the Co-operative Societies by the Trade Union and Labour movement many of whose beliefs were founded on religious principles, indeed it is often said the Jesus was the first Socialist, that the only shop open for business is the one whose roots are to be found in those beliefs and principles.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e I can remember when I was a child the only shop to be found open on Good Friday morning was the village baker who opened for an hour to sell hot cross buns (proper ones of course, not the rubbish you buy today) apart from that nowhere else was open. There were no papers as printers had the religious holidays off, butchers, bakers and others all closed over Easter, Christmas, Whitsun and other Bank Holidays. These holidays were a time for rest and relaxation and spending time with your family but sadly now with the advent of 24/7, 365 days a year trading and power advertising any time off work is seen as an opportunity to sell you something and get you out in the garden building a patio that you don’t really want but have been convinced by one of the TV gardeners (usually sponsored by one of the large DIY stores) that you simply must have  or poisoning yourself with a barbecue (suggested by a TV chef usually sponsored by a supermarket) by cooking frozen food from the freezer that you bought on the last Bank Holiday. \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI could go on all day about the much vaunted good old days ( I remember them well, Typhoid, Ricketts, Diphtheria, Polio, mass unemployment and poverty etc, etc.)\u003cbr /\u003eBut I wont, suffice to say that now I have time on my hands and I have the chance to become more sullen and morose by the day and even more grumpy than usual I find that I am more and more hankering for a return to a society with basic decent values, simple good manners, proper table manners (a particular bugbear of mine) and a lot less of the ‘in your face’ attitude of  advertisers, newspapers, teenagers, prime time television programmes, (and that’s another appalling American expression) and a lot less of the me first  materialistic attitude that Thatcher spawned.\u003cbr /\u003e**********************************************************************************\u003cbr /\u003eQuite how I got from a trip to buy some eggs to a rant about the Thatcher Generation is beyond me, but then I am a Grumpy Old Man so I absolutely reserve the right to be grumpy as and when I feel like it!\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-5630281972375783072?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/5630281972375783072/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d5630281972375783072\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"7 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/5630281972375783072"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/5630281972375783072"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/04/another-grumpy-day.html","title":"Another Grumpy Day !!"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"7"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-5700827884547126602"},"published":{"$t":"2009-04-09T13:22:00.001+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-04-09T13:29:33.927+01:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The democratic Process, Part One."},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"I went to a meeting last night of the Councils new General Purposes Committee. I had booked Myself in to speak on one of the items, well the only agenda item actually, under Council Procedure Rule 24.1 that allows other Members to attend and speak at Committee’s.\u003cbr /\u003eI set off all fired up because I had received a phone call just as I was leaving telling me that I would not be allowed to speak as this Committee was exempt. This came as a complete surprise to me as Members have always been allowed to speak, the only exception as far as I know is Licensing as that is a Quasi Judicial Committee.\u003cbr /\u003eWithout wanting to sound too grand and full of my own importance I am a democratically elected Councillor and as such should have the absolute right to have my say on behalf of those who I am elected to represent wherever and whenever and about whatever I feel that I should.\u003cbr /\u003e So I arrived all fired up and full of adrenalin ready for a massive argument and quite prepared to be physically removed from the building by security if necessary only to have the wind taken from My sails when it was agreed that I would be allowed to speak. I can only assume that it was felt the subject matter on the agenda was potentially embarrassing and no-one should be allowed to criticise the proposals.\u003cbr /\u003eAt this point I suppose I should congratulate \u003ca href\u003d\"http://birchington.blogspot.com/2009/04/council-pay-settlement-2009.html\"\u003eSimon Moores\u003c/a\u003e for making a decent fist of his first meeting as Chair and allowing a free and true democratic debate to take place, I hope that he continues to run his meetings in the same vein in the future.\u003cbr /\u003e I don’t always agree with him but credit where it is due.\u003cbr /\u003eBasically the Committee were discussing the Council’s senior management restructuring and the resulting increase in Senior Officers salaries. I wont go into details here as the report is confidential, suffice to say that it was agreed that the proposals would be made public shortly and Cllr Moores undertook to ensure that this happened. \u003cbr /\u003eThe only sour note is that Cabinet had already agreed last November that the Council would be bound by the Consultants report before they even knew the content or consequences of it!. \u003cbr /\u003eNow call me a Silly Billy but how can you agree to something in advance that you have no idea about or any idea what or where it will lead to.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-5700827884547126602?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/5700827884547126602/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d5700827884547126602\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"5 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/5700827884547126602"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/5700827884547126602"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/04/democratic-process-part-one.html","title":"The democratic Process, Part One."}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"5"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-99173467201116394"},"published":{"$t":"2009-03-27T14:12:00.001Z"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-03-27T14:14:01.820Z"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Angry Old Man"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"As I enter my dotage and have more time on my hands I sometimes worry that I am turning into an angry old man. Not a grumpy old man as portrayed in the tv series but a genuine angry person as I find I am getting more and more angry at the simplest things. \u003cbr /\u003eI am currently finding the Americanisation of our society particularly irksome, while I have nothing against America or Americans per se I find that some things really annoy me. I suppose it all started with chewing gum and bubble gum as bought into this country by American Servicemen during the war and it has been a downhill journey since then. Chewing gum is a filthy habit especially if done with the mouth open as seems to be the fashion now amongst the hoodie clad young of today, hoodies are another American import as well.\u003cbr /\u003eSpelling is a good example of how creeping Americanisation is affecting our society, as someone who dabbles in HTML having to remember to spell centre as center or colour as color or programme as program irks my ire beyond belief. And why oh why do supermarkets (another American idea) only sell large packs of everything. At one time you could buy a pound of sugar, three eggs, a quarter of butter and a whole plethora of other things in quantities suitable for single people now you can only buy in packs suitable for families of five or six, of course in America you can only buy large packs so rather than waste it they eat it, that and the dreaded fast food outlets that have now arrived in the UK probably explains why Americans are the most overweight people in the world it also goes to explain why we ( the Brits ) are fast catching them up in the obesity stakes. Yet another example is found in  \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1164888/Should-let-year-old-girl-wear-make-up.html#comments\"\u003ethis Daily Mail story\u003c/a\u003e, The Daily Mail is not a paper I read normally but saw this from a link on a website I use. Ignoring the debate about whether it right for young girls to be dressed up in small versions of 20 somethings clubbing clothes apparently it is normal in America to have child pageants where your kids are dressed up as mini adults and paraded around as some sort of trophy or show horse, also ignoring the fact that this is clearly some sort of posh dysfunctional family, I mean who would call their children  Bronte, Merrily, and Bridie, the whole piece is littered with Americanisms, Mom, chores, sleepovers, Play-Doh (I always thought dough was spelt dough and Doh was the expression Homer Simpson makes) \u003cbr /\u003eMy Grandchildren  now tell me that they no longer wear trainers but sneakers, they don’t go to the pictures but catch a movie, go to the drive through or thru to get burger and fries.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThey will be telling me next we are going on vacation!\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-99173467201116394?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/99173467201116394/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d99173467201116394\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"3 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/99173467201116394"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/99173467201116394"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/03/angry-old-man.html","title":"Angry Old Man"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"3"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-8788389730259560304"},"published":{"$t":"2009-03-19T17:29:00.002Z"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-03-19T17:48:27.984Z"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Gee, thanks Gerry,"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"By now most of you will have heard the dull thud as your Council Tax bill drops through your letterbox. I daresay that the booklet that comes with it is along with Adscene one of the quickest items sent to the recycling bin but time should be taken to read it as it reveals a very interesting fact.\u003cbr /\u003eAs a direct result of Gerry O'Donnells half arsed, half baked, cock eyed scheme when he conned a lot of old people into thinking they were going to get the old Ramsgate Council back. A quick look at page four reveals that the increase in the precept for Ramsgate is a massive \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight:bold;\"\u003e43%\u003c/span\u003e although not a lot in cash terms, £3.87 increase for a band D property, in terms of a percentage increase it is huge. The \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight:bold;\"\u003eONLY \u003c/span\u003e reason for this is that money has to be in place for all sorts of things before the Parish Council is formed. So we have a \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight:bold;\"\u003e43%\u003c/span\u003e increase before they have even been elected and held a meeting !! As there is no cap on how much a Parish Council can increase its precept this is I fear a precursor to some obscene increases in the Ramsgate Tax if the barking mad party wins control.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eTalking of barking mad and Council Tax I see that Tim nice but dim Garbutt is \u003cbr /\u003eadvocating a Council Tax strike. I can only assume that he enjoyed his sojourn at one of Her Majesties Hotels that he wants to go back for a second stay!\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-8788389730259560304?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/8788389730259560304/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d8788389730259560304\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"7 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/8788389730259560304"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/8788389730259560304"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/03/gee-thanks-gerry.html","title":"Gee, thanks Gerry,"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"7"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-4539109748838860351"},"published":{"$t":"2009-03-16T20:27:00.002Z"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-03-16T22:17:46.245Z"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Well,,what can I say,,,,,,,,,,"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Well, I have just returned from the so called hearing into the events at The Woollen Mill shop in Margate last year.\u003cbr /\u003eI say so called hearing because the whole thing consisted of the Chairman reading out a series of pre prepared statements. Not one witness was called, no discussion took place on the ‘evidence’. It could not by any stretch of the imagination could it be called a ‘hearing’.\u003cbr /\u003eThis charade was open to the public presumably so that the populace could see justice being done. There were in fact quite a few members of the public there as well as some Labour and Tory Councillors and a couple of reporters. An  inauspicious start was made when it has been decided beforehand that microphones were not going to be used so people in the public gallery couldn’t hear what was going on. As I said the Chairman then read out the script and the Committee decided to retire to consider their ‘verdict’ and what sanction ( if any) to apply. At this point the Chief Executive decided to intervene and instructed that the members of the panel should sit at seats with microphones and use them, hitch number one was that the cupboards where the on/off switches are housed were locked ( why)  so an Officer was quickly despatched to get the key,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,key duly arrived and cupboard was opened, all to no avail, wrong cupboard,,,,,,,,,further rushing around to try and find the right key then followed, in the meantime the panel had returned to deliver ‘The Verdict’ and ‘The Sanction’. \u003cbr /\u003eThe Chairman strode purposely to the front of the panel to address the assembled multitudes (as the microphones were still not working) again reading from a prepared statement she began to read the verdict that consisted of a repeat of the previously read bits of the report until,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSHOCK,,,,HORROR,,,,STOP THE PRESSES,, HOLD THE FRONT PAGE !!!!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eCouncillor Ezekiel had been found guilty of two breaches of the Code of Conduct and Councillor Latchford was guilty of one breach.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis of course was one of the first things the Chairman had read from the prepared statement way back at the beginning. So why had we sat through nearly two hours of tosh ?\u003cbr /\u003eAnyway on the much anticipated Sanction. \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn view of the fact that Cllr Ezekiel had apologised the sanction to be imposed was to be a \u003ca href\u003d\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censure\"\u003ecensure.\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn view of the fact that Cllr Latchford had apologised the sanction was to be nothing.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn the words of Katherine Tate’s character Granny Taylor,\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhat a fucking liberty.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-4539109748838860351?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/4539109748838860351/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d4539109748838860351\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"1 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/4539109748838860351"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/4539109748838860351"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/03/wellwhat-can-i-say.html","title":"Well,,what can I say,,,,,,,,,,"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"1"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-3727250532526542892"},"published":{"$t":"2009-03-06T10:10:00.000Z"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-03-06T10:11:20.804Z"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"We Always Told You So !"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Today’s news that there has been an unofficial blacklist operated by construction companies comes as no surprise to those of us who have been involved in the trade union movement. We have long suspected that such a list operates despite denials by construction companies spokesmen. What is worrying is that the firm that acted as a sort of clearing house for this information acted with total disregard for the Data Protection Act and shouldn’t have held this information in the first place, add to that the weak and flaccid response from the so called watchdog, The Information Commissioner and you will agree that the Tory based Establishment hasn’t changed much.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis week also see’s the 25th anniversary of the start of the last major miners strike. Much has been said and written about those events some of which has since been proved to be true. Also come true is Arthur Scargill’s prediction that there was a policy to destroy our mining industry in Britain. Even last night and this morning there were a couple of the fat, bloated spokesmen from the Thatcher era denying that there was ever a policy of smashing Trade Unions and major industries. \u003cbr /\u003eI wait with interest for March 2014 when the 30 Year Rule will allow cabinet Minutes from that time to be released!\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-3727250532526542892?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/3727250532526542892/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d3727250532526542892\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"8 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/3727250532526542892"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/3727250532526542892"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/03/we-always-told-you-so.html","title":"We Always Told You So !"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"8"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-1807670746825547785"},"published":{"$t":"2009-03-05T18:39:00.004Z"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-03-05T21:23:05.329Z"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Good News, Progress and Blog Spots."},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"First the good news, as I mentioned in a previous blog Newington Community Primary School where I have the privilege of being the Chair of the Governing body has been awarded an OFSTED rating of GOOD with some outstanding features. This is due to the hard work of all the staff from the school caretakers, dinner ladies etc right up to the Headteacher, but the people who contributed most are the pupils. They have shown that by being given good teaching, strong but fair discipline and providing decent facilities any school can overcome previous difficulties. I am immensely proud to be associated with this school and it is a real poke in the eye for many people who constantly write Newington off as a desolate place ridden with ‘feral children’ and  ‘giro munching wasters’ to quote one particularly unpleasant individual.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/oxedu_reports/display/(id)/105248\"\u003eYou can see the full report here.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI continue to wrestle with ‘The System’ without much success, I am particularly pissed off with insurance companies at the moment. As I have written before I have payment protection insurance supposedly to cover unexpected sickness or unemployment. These people want all sorts of information from me that has been provided usually by return of post and despite my speedy return of the information I find that nearly two months into the process payments are still coming out of my ever diminishing bank account. I have this morning phoned these providers and having struggled through the morass of people reading from flow charts finally got through to decision makers and err, erm, err let off steam at them. They have been given seven days to refund the payments that they insured me against having to make or I am going to the FSA, the Banking and Insurance Ombudsman and anyone else I can think of. I have all the glossy leaflets they send when you make a claim making all the promises about ‘peace of mind’ ‘speedy resolution of your claim’ ‘keeping you fully informed at all stages’ etc, etc, blah, blah, blah, it all seems to be empty rhetoric and false promises.\u003cbr /\u003e No doubt there will be those who will think they are politicians in training. !!!!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eA quick tour of the Blog’s reveals that \u003ca href\u003d\"http://eastcliffrichard.blogspot.com/\"\u003eECR\u003c/a\u003e is off being an international jet-setter living the high life in Canada, well actually he is probably working the clapperboard on some obscure travel show for an even more obscure cable TV company !\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://eastclifframsgate.blogspot.com/\"\u003eDave Green\u003c/a\u003e is still keeping his head down for some reason.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eElsewhere \u003ca href\u003d\"http://stopmanstonexpansiongroup.blogspot.com/2009/03/manston-airport-matt-clarke-lecture.html\"\u003egood ole Smeghead\u003c/a\u003e is becoming more and more desperate in trying to drum up support for his futile attempt to close Manston Airport, interestingly on a door knocking exercise in Newington Ward last weekend one of the questions we asked folks on the doorstep was if they had any issues with the Airport. There are no prizes for guessing that there was general support for it!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://thanetstrife.blogspot.com/\"\u003eBertie Biggles\u003c/a\u003e keeps up the pressure on TDC this time with an item about the long awaited Standards Committee hearing into the alleged goings on at a certain Wool Shop in Margate. Well yes there were letters sent out including to the Press who haven’t used them for whatever reason. The whole process has taken an inordinately long time for some reason. I have long thought that complaints about Members should be dealt with by a neighbouring Authority to ensure that there is no leaning on Members of Standards Committee to come to the 'right decision'. \u003cbr /\u003eNot that I am suggesting that this may happen in this case!!!\u003cbr /\u003e I am not going to comment further on this for fear of being accused of prejudicing the outcome.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHis next item concerns a Cabinet Member and her apparent invisibility in her Ward, hopefully her Satnav will be working next week as she is due in Newington for a meeting about the demolition and rebuild of The Centre.\u003cbr /\u003e \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://bignewsmargate.blogspot.com/\"\u003eTony Flaig\u003c/a\u003e, who I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of weeks ago comments on the appearance of bee’s who seem to be able to get to work without having to rely on the train services in the South East that ground to a halt after a very frosty night. Not much change there then. I worked on what was then called British Railways for 20 years leaving in 1984 and despite the advances in technology in many areas it seems that the problems caused by a bit of frost is still beyond the wit of boffins to solve.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://marknottingham.blogspot.com/\"\u003eMark Nottingham\u003c/a\u003e points us in the direction of a BBC programme tonight. Judging by some of the replies to his post a lot of folks don’t understand exactly what an elected Mayor is all about, maybe they should do some research before passing comments.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://thanetonline.blogspot.com/\"\u003eMichael Child\u003c/a\u003e has some interesting stuff on his blog. I find the one about Ramsgate library a bit puzzling though, I can understand locking valuable books away but to hide what are I understand copies seems a bit bizarre. I know Michael has some interesting stuff in his shop, now I have time on my hands I must pop in and browse.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-1807670746825547785?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/1807670746825547785/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d1807670746825547785\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"7 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/1807670746825547785"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/1807670746825547785"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/03/good-news-progress-and-blog-spots.html","title":"Good News, Progress and Blog Spots."}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"7"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-8517897347466858991"},"published":{"$t":"2009-02-27T12:38:00.002Z"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-02-27T12:44:11.673Z"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Bugeting, Penny Pinching and Generosity"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Last night we had the Council’s budget meeting to set the budget and Council Tax for the coming year.\u003cbr /\u003eFirst item of business was to elect a new Chairman for the rest of the Council year following the handing of the poison chalice of the Planning brief to John Kirby. Council was unanimous in supporting Margaret Sheldrick as our Chair. I have to say that she made a pretty decent fist of her first meeting and at least seems to have a basic grasp of Standing Orders and the Rules of Debate!\u003cbr /\u003eSo it was on the main business of the evening, in a previous post I referred to the political bile that spewed forth from the Leader and in an attempt to get some facts out into the public domain I asked Martin Wise the following question:-\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight:bold;\"\u003e‘In addition to the Formula Grant I understand that the Council receives a number of other funding streams. Please can you tell me how much the Council will receive by way of specific grants (including miscellaneous revenue grants) and area based grants in 2009/10 and how much capital grant funding the Council has been allocated for next year.’\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe Formula Grant is what used to be called the Rate Support Grant and the Council gets its revenue funding from 3 main sources:-\u003cbr /\u003eGovernment Grant £17.7M\u003cbr /\u003eFees and Charges        £7.57M\u003cbr /\u003eCouncil Tax  £9.52M\u003cbr /\u003eThe Council also gets a lot of other money from Government by way of extra grants, I won’t bore you with a list but suffice to say that in total over an extra 7 million will be pumped into Thanet via the Council this year. If you add to that the many millions spent on upgrading and improving our school buildings and facilities, our health care services by way of new Health Centre’s, improvements to our Hospital and extra Doctors and Nurses, the planned extension to the East Kent Access plus the money paid to third sector organizations you will see that far from neglecting Thanet, Government has recognized our unique and special problems and has provided much funding to address them. Of course much more needs to be done and local Labour Councillors will continue to press for extra help.\u003cbr /\u003eMartin Wise was a bit sheepish about the extra money and listed a few of the smaller amounts received but the inescapable fact is that he was a bit embarrassed about it.\u003cbr /\u003eThe debate then moved on to the Budget itself and an amendment was moved to remove the £10 charge being imposed on disabled peoples carers to get a bus pass to accompany disabled people on the bus. This charge is estimated to raise £1000.00 in a year, yes just a thousand pounds which in overall terms on a budget of over £34 million is a drop in the ocean. Prior notice was given of this amendment and in private conversations with some Tories they were very supportive of this move but on the night it was voted through with 100% support on the Tory benches. I suspect and hope that this mean and penny pinching move will come back to bite them.\u003cbr /\u003eTo rub salt in the wound we were also discussing the Scheme of Members Allowances, although it was agreed not to increase the basic allowances and Special Responsibility Allowances overall several additional payments were agreed. It seems that Cabinet Members are to get two ‘Lead Members’ each and these people are to be paid £500 a year each, also agreed was the setting up of a General Purposes Committee.\u003cbr /\u003e This Committee may or may not meet in the course of a year according to the Officers report but notwithstanding this it was agreed that the Chairman of a Committee that may not meet will receive £1216 a year and the Vice Chairman £279 a year. \u003cbr /\u003e  \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight:bold;\"\u003eSo to sum up the Tories agreed that an extra £6495 a year should be included in the Budget and paid to an additional 12 of their Members but  £1000 should not be removed from the Budget to help people who care for disabled people.\u003cbr /\u003eIncidentally this means that 29 out of 34 Tories now receive an extra sum of money on top of their basic allowance! No doubt in the coming months they will find a way to rectify this situation.\u003c/span\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-8517897347466858991?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/8517897347466858991/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d8517897347466858991\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"5 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/8517897347466858991"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/8517897347466858991"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/02/bugeting-penny-pinching-and-generosity.html","title":"Bugeting, Penny Pinching and Generosity"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"5"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-2533528208161179145"},"published":{"$t":"2009-02-25T19:52:00.004Z"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-02-25T20:48:41.346Z"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Politics, Politicians and Little Local Difficulties."},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"It seems that two of our popular Thanet Blogs are in a state of cryogenic suspension at least temporally I hope. Both  \u003ca href\u003d\"http://eastcliffrichard.blogspot.com/\"\u003eEastcliff Richard\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href\u003d\"http://eastclifframsgate.blogspot.com/\"\u003eDave Green\u003c/a\u003e have stopped blogging, both for very different reasons it seems. Poor old Eastcliff Richard has had enough of banging his head against a wall and worn himself out and it seems that Dave Green is suffering a little local difficulty again about something that apparently appeared on his Blog. While I don’t know the gory details of Dave’s problems I do know that the Tories monitor Blog sites both here and nationally for writings that they deem to be political and worthy of complaint to something laughingly called The Standards Board for England. My own view is that this thing was set up to emasculate local Councillors and prevent them from criticising opposing Parties policies in public. While I agree and accept that some behaviour is unacceptable fair criticism and pointing out faults is a perfectly right and proper way to go about things especially if you feel that something is wrong.\u003cbr /\u003eIt seems to me that a set of double standards is being operated here by the local Tories, there is a concerted and concentrated effort to discredit one particular Labour Councillor at the slightest opportunity yet when the boot is on the other foot and they feel they have in some way been slighted they rush like goody two shoes to report the offender to teacher. They then frequently have the gall to accuse us (Labour) of being political and making mischief. \u003cbr /\u003eI also accept that many of the Tories on TDC have never had a political thought in their heads and some even deny that decisions are made for political reasons (so why they then joined a political party is beyond me) the Leadership at TDC are most certainly politically motivated. You only have to read the political bile that spews forth from the Leaders column in the local rag fortnightly to understand that, although I suspect that most of it is written by one PC 49 Roger Gale MP. Incidentally you may also wonder why so much of that column is dedicated to national matters when it is local stuff that Thanet folks want to read in a local paper, I strongly suspect that it is to divert attention away from the ever growing list of failing of TDC to properly serve the people of Thanet  and to hide the Thanet Tories own shortcomings.\u003cbr /\u003eA quick look at something called \u003ca href\u003d\"http://tdc-mg-dmz.thanet.gov.uk/mgListPlanItems.aspx?PlanId\u003d121\u0026RP\u003d151\"\u003eThe Forward Plan\u003c/a\u003e reveals that in the coming months they will be considering and adopting yet another raft of politically slanted policies and strategies most of which have no relevance to and are of even less interest to 99% of the people of Thanet. It does of course give them the chance to say when someone rings up about something “ oh we have a policy/strategy for that”  the fact that they have no-one to do bugger all about your problem is conveniently overlooked!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://eastcliffrichard.blogspot.com/\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-2533528208161179145?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/2533528208161179145/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d2533528208161179145\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"5 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/2533528208161179145"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/2533528208161179145"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/02/politics-politicians-and-little-local.html","title":"Politics, Politicians and Little Local Difficulties."}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"5"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-830725032445669608"},"published":{"$t":"2009-02-13T17:18:00.003Z"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-02-13T17:31:24.650Z"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Silly Old Duffer"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"JSA"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Signing on"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"KIACC"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Infratil"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"More general incoherent ramblings of a silly old duffer."},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"I had to sign on again this week and what a complete difference to the last time, a friendly face, chatty advisor and all done with good grace and a smile, it was almost a pleasure !!!\u003cbr /\u003eIts just a shame that they still havn’t sorted out my claim for JSA yet.  \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e*************************************************************************************\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMuch has been said and written about the proposal to allow ‘night time flying’ at Manston Airport.\u003cbr /\u003eWhen you remove all the hysterical ranting, ill informed tosh, opinion from misguided folks who claim to be experts on just about every subject under the sun, wild exaggeration and hyperbole carefully designed to create false impressions and spread fear you are left with one inescapable fact there will be four flights a week arriving between 6 and 7 in the morning all the others will be arriving and departing during normal operating hours.\u003cbr /\u003eInfratil have said that they will emphasis to the carrier that arrivals should be on Runway 10 (west to east) and departures on Runway 28 (east to west) I would hope that if indeed it is the carrier that has been mentioned but not yet confirmed, their Pilots would be of sufficiently high calibre that they would adhere to the rules. Unless we have a prolonged period of adverse weather most of the arrivals should avoid Ramsgate altogether.\u003cbr /\u003eFollowing the accident in America this morning some folks are already using that as a reason to claim that the Airport should shut completely as there may be a plane crash, following that logic no-one should get in their car, cross the road, go up a ladder as they may have an accident, no doubt there have been several car accidents, pedestrians run over and builders fallen off ladders already today. Lets all just stay indoors and go nowhere and do nothing in case we have an accident, and be careful don’t boil the kettle in case you burn yourself!! Every time we carry out some activity we are subconsciously doing a risk assessment the only difference between that and flying operations is the level at which that assessment is carried out. Accidents rarely just happen they are usually caused by sudden mechanical failure, human error or more usually plain stupidity. \u003cu\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.darwinawards.com\"\u003eSEE HERE FOR DETAILS.\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/u\u003e \u003cbr /\u003eAt the risk of upsetting some air freight operators I would suggest that the touted operator has very high standards of aircraft maintenance, their pilots are very well trained and probably not subject to acts of stupidity while in charge of an aircraft.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e**************************************************************************************\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNo doubt \u003cu\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://eastcliffrichard.blogspot.com/2009/02/will-last-person-to-leave-ramsgate.html\"\u003eECR\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/u\u003e is creaming his Gucci jeans at the fact that one of his many obsessive postings has reached 97 replies as I write, no doubt it will creep above three figures this evening as the anonymous ‘ I’ve got a job’ posters get to work posting their bile, vitriol and general corruption of the facts.\u003cbr /\u003eTo correct some false statements, I DID NOT mention Pilots when listing the jobs that may become available at KIA when speaking, I spoke about semi skilled jobs that people could be trained for locally, I also mentioned the fact that when Infratil  originally took over the airport they were using an Aberdeen based recruitment agency to get staff. Incidentally at that time there were only 7 full time employees of the Airport all the others were agency staff recruited locally but employed via this agency in Aberdeen. That practice has now ceased and about 100 staff are directly employed by Infratil at KIA. The point I was making was that that should not happen again and that any jobs created should use local labour recruited by the local Job Centre or a local agency.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e****************************************************************************************\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMuch indignation emerges from members of KIACC about all sorts of things that Infratil and the Council have or haven’t done, before criticising others may I suggest that they take a closer look at themselves and see what, if anything they have done to comply with \u003cu\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.ukaccs.info/guidelines.htm#Access\"\u003eTHESE GUIDLINES\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/u\u003e They may also wish to consider joining this organisation. Oh ! silly me, the present criterion for membership of the Liaison Group is that an airport should have a passenger throughput of 0.6. mppa or more, given the present attitude of KIACC that is not likely to happen for many years although that is not to say that they (KIACC) couldn’t or shouldn’t approach them for help and advice.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-830725032445669608?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/830725032445669608/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d830725032445669608\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"10 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/830725032445669608"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/830725032445669608"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/02/more-general-incoherent-ramblings-of.html","title":"More general incoherent ramblings of a silly old duffer."}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"10"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-6409299545359893371"},"published":{"$t":"2009-02-03T16:06:00.005Z"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-02-03T16:19:07.071Z"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Gissa Job Mister, continued,,,,"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cmeta equiv\u003d\"Content-Type\" content\u003d\"text/html; charset\u003dutf-8\"\u003e\u003cmeta name\u003d\"ProgId\" content\u003d\"Word.Document\"\u003e\u003cmeta name\u003d\"Generator\" content\u003d\"Microsoft Word 11\"\u003e\u003cmeta name\u003d\"Originator\" content\u003d\"Microsoft Word 11\"\u003e\u003clink rel\u003d\"File-List\" href\u003d\"file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CMIKEHA%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml\"\u003e\u003co:smarttagtype namespaceuri\u003d\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags\" name\u003d\"PlaceType\"\u003e\u003c/o:smarttagtype\u003e\u003co:smarttagtype namespaceuri\u003d\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags\" name\u003d\"PlaceName\"\u003e\u003c/o:smarttagtype\u003e\u003co:smarttagtype namespaceuri\u003d\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags\" name\u003d\"place\"\u003e\u003c/o:smarttagtype\u003e\u003c!--[if gte mso 9]\u003e\u003cxml\u003e  \u003cw:worddocument\u003e   \u003cw:view\u003eNormal\u003c/w:View\u003e   \u003cw:zoom\u003e0\u003c/w:Zoom\u003e   \u003cw:punctuationkerning/\u003e   \u003cw:validateagainstschemas/\u003e   \u003cw:saveifxmlinvalid\u003efalse\u003c/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid\u003e   \u003cw:ignoremixedcontent\u003efalse\u003c/w:IgnoreMixedContent\u003e   \u003cw:alwaysshowplaceholdertext\u003efalse\u003c/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText\u003e   \u003cw:compatibility\u003e    \u003cw:breakwrappedtables/\u003e    \u003cw:snaptogridincell/\u003e    \u003cw:wraptextwithpunct/\u003e    \u003cw:useasianbreakrules/\u003e    \u003cw:dontgrowautofit/\u003e   \u003c/w:Compatibility\u003e   \u003cw:browserlevel\u003eMicrosoftInternetExplorer4\u003c/w:BrowserLevel\u003e  \u003c/w:WordDocument\u003e \u003c/xml\u003e\u003c![endif]--\u003e\u003c!--[if gte mso 9]\u003e\u003cxml\u003e  \u003cw:latentstyles deflockedstate\u003d\"false\" latentstylecount\u003d\"156\"\u003e  \u003c/w:LatentStyles\u003e \u003c/xml\u003e\u003c![endif]--\u003e\u003c!--[if !mso]\u003e\u003cobject classid\u003d\"clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D\" id\u003d\"ieooui\"\u003e\u003c/object\u003e \u003cstyle\u003e st1\\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } \u003c/style\u003e \u003c![endif]--\u003e\u003cstyle\u003e \u003c!--  /* Style Definitions */  p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal 	{mso-style-parent:\"\"; 	margin:0cm; 	margin-bottom:.0001pt; 	mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 	font-size:12.0pt; 	font-family:\"Times New Roman\"; 	mso-fareast-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";} @page Section1 	{size:612.0pt 792.0pt; 	margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; 	mso-header-margin:35.4pt; 	mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; 	mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 	{page:Section1;} --\u003e \u003c/style\u003e\u003c!--[if gte mso 10]\u003e \u003cstyle\u003e  /* Style Definitions */  table.MsoNormalTable 	{mso-style-name:\"Table Normal\"; 	mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; 	mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; 	mso-style-noshow:yes; 	mso-style-parent:\"\"; 	mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; 	mso-para-margin:0cm; 	mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; 	mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 	font-size:10.0pt; 	font-family:\"Times New Roman\"; 	mso-ansi-language:#0400; 	mso-fareast-language:#0400; 	mso-bidi-language:#0400;} \u003c/style\u003e \u003c![endif]--\u003e  \u003cp class\u003d\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"\" lang\u003d\"EN-GB\"\u003eMy apologies for not updating this sooner but I have been a bit busy with the dreaded OFSTED visiting the \u003cst1:place st\u003d\"on\"\u003e\u003cst1:placename st\u003d\"on\"\u003eNewington\u003c/st1:placename\u003e  \u003cst1:placetype st\u003d\"on\"\u003eSchool\u003c/st1:placetype\u003e\u003c/st1:place\u003e, more of that later perhaps.\u003co:p\u003e\u003c/o:p\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e  \u003cp class\u003d\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"\" lang\u003d\"EN-GB\"\u003e\u003co:p\u003e \u003c/o:p\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e  \u003cp class\u003d\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"\" lang\u003d\"EN-GB\"\u003eAgain many thanks for the continuing messages of support and encouragement and also for the many tales of woe that have reached my ears, I have ensured that these have been passed on to James Purnell the Minister responsible for these matters, I will post any feedback from him here at some point. I can hear some of you saying “well why don’t you use your connections to get a job?. I suppose I could if I was that way inclined but in my view that is no better than some of the more sleazy things that Politicians of all Parties do to further their own ends. If I find another job I want it to be because of me and my skills and abilities (or lack of them) not because of the fact that I am on nodding terms with some of the so called great and good of this \u003cst1:place st\u003d\"on\"\u003eIsland\u003c/st1:place\u003e.\u003co:p\u003e\u003c/o:p\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e  \u003cp class\u003d\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"\" lang\u003d\"EN-GB\"\u003e\u003co:p\u003e \u003c/o:p\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e  \u003cp class\u003d\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"\" lang\u003d\"EN-GB\"\u003eAnyway I had to ‘sign on’ last Tuesday and duly attended at the appointed time and place. For those of you who fortunate enough not to have had this experience it is a steep learning curve. On arrival you are met by a greeter who takes your collection of forms from you and a gorilla in a Group 4 uniform who tells you to ‘take a seat’ with a vague wave of the hand in the general direction of some seats, nearby is a sort of podium thing that contains the electronic job board. While doing the uniquely English thing of queuing you are expected to look through this list of available jobs. There are a series of touch screens to follow and in theory you should arrive at something suited to your talents or preferences. I wont dwell on the fact that I arrived at a list of jobs for children’s nursery assistants, despite the fact that as a Grandfather of 7  and I am probably uniquely qualified to keep children constructively occupied for several hours I don’t have the bit of paper that says I can so that was a non starter, ironically as I am a School Governor I have been List 99 checked so met at least 50% of the criteria. Also there were several jobs that were described as ‘driving’ I am assuming that from the descriptions attached to those that weren’t specific about being a delivery driver were private hire/ hackney carriage driving jobs.\u003co:p\u003e\u003c/o:p\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e  \u003cp class\u003d\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"\" lang\u003d\"EN-GB\"\u003eHaving been there, done that, and had my own taxi company I didn’t fancy that at my age, it’s a young mans game. Another really helpful fact was that the White Van Man jobs were all out of the area. So after dutifully browsing the jobs I took a seat in the area indicated and started reading my Thanet Times, starting with the sports pages then the front page then the inside pages and oh I suppose I had better look at the jobs page as well, during this my peaceful reverie was frequently interrupted by a hatch being opened and a name being called followed by people going up to the hatch and receiving wads of cash! It seems that I was sitting in the area reserved for folks getting crisis loans, as I was sitting up taking notice of what was going on around me I could hear a voice calling out my name in the distance so I got up and went to investigate, as I walked round the screen I was met with a sea of desks with privacy screens around them but couldn’t see anyone standing calling my name. Undeterred I started to approach all the empty ones to see who had summoned me, eventually I found the right person who very snottily told me that I had been sitting in the wrong place and she was just about to mark me as ‘absent’, resisting the temptation to tell her exactly what I thought I politely pointed out that I was sitting where the gorilla in the Group 4 uniform had told me to sit but I would know better next time and also know my place. I also thought better of telling her that she had called me 20 minutes late. And so to the signing on ceremony, I was asked a series of questions about what I had done to find work and asked to produce my documented proof, she seemed a bit surprised that I had copies of a couple of letters and emails I had sent to various employers also a copy of what passes for my CV to show as proof. This all seemed to satisfy her and she completed the necessary paperwork and instructed me to attend in a fortnights time and I got the feeling I was being dismissed, not so fast Missus, I want something from you now !! As I have got a couple of payment protection insurances in case I couldn’t work for some reason, I needed something called an ABI 1, well actually I needed four, so I politely asked her for four copies of this form, the look I got had to be seen to be believed, with extreme bad grace she manually filled in four of these forms and threw them across the desk at me. By now I was very pi55ed off with this bints attitude and told her that next time I expected to be seen on time and treated with respect as per the Customer Charter, I also told her that without folks like me she would be out of a job. I am still debating whether to write a strong letter of complaint to the Job Centre Manager, copied to my MP and James Purnell. \u003co:p\u003e\u003c/o:p\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e  \u003cp class\u003d\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"\" lang\u003d\"EN-GB\"\u003eIt remains to be seen whether she has marked my file ‘Troublemaker’ or maybe I just caught her on a bad day.\u003co:p\u003e\u003c/o:p\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e  \u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-6409299545359893371?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/6409299545359893371/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d6409299545359893371\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"11 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/6409299545359893371"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/6409299545359893371"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/02/gissa-job-mister-continued.html","title":"Gissa Job Mister, continued,,,,"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"11"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-3307876967918299786"},"published":{"$t":"2009-01-21T15:49:00.005Z"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-01-21T16:05:13.699Z"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Gissa job,,,,,day two."},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"First may I thank publicly all those who have posted here and sent messages of support and good wishes to me, some of whom I profoundly disagree with politically but this proves that what I have always said is true, any differences should be left in the Council Chamber.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eTo Anon 22.46 on my previous post I would say this, first I resent your implication that I am a scrounger ‘leading the charge’ its quite simple really so I will try and explain in simple words so even you can understand how I see it. I pay car insurance so if I have an accident I can claim from my insurance, I pay National Insurance so that if I become sick or unemployed I can claim from that insurance. Having paid my 40+ years premiums I feel I have the absolute right to claim on that particular insurance policy.\u003cbr /\u003eNo doubt you are the kind of person who thinks that the greedy, unscrupulous, plain dishonest bankers who got us in this mess in the first place are jolly good chaps. You really should abide by one of your undoubted hero’s words, ‘ we make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give’ Winston Churchill.\u003cbr /\u003eSo get a life and ask yourself when did you last give something back to your community ?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnyway I digress,,\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eDay Two, ‘The Interview’\u003cbr /\u003eI duly arrived at the appointed time and place, hair combed, shoes polished and with all the information I had been asked to bring with me. First hitch was the Northern Person I spoke to in Derby had told me the wrong time but to be fair they were very helpful and understanding at the Job centre and I got the feeling that was not a particularly unusual event, so I was asked to wait a while and someone would see me soon.\u003cbr /\u003eHitch number two, the Northern Person I spoke to in Derby had filled in the wrong form and sent it electronically to Ramsgate so I had to repeat the process again using the correct form, it seems there are three ways to claim JSA, Income based, Contribution based or Pension Credit based. It seems that Northern Person I spoke to in Derby had assumed that because I am over 60 I would be claiming Pension Credit. I had mulled over the various options beforehand and had opted for a Contribution based claim, again much credit must go to the Advisor I spoke to who explained the various options and which one would be best for me. As it turned out I had made the right choice and she talked me through the form.\u003cbr /\u003eNext was an Interview with a ‘Back to work Advisor’, he asked me what sort of work was I looking for, I explained that I was not bothered as long as it was something I felt I could do and felt comfortable with. Apparently that is not good enough, you have to be more specific, so I said I would like to become a Coronation Programme Seller or maybe a Treacle Bender, I think he realised at this point that I was not taking this quite as seriously as I should. He then asked what skills I had, now I have many skills not many of which would be good qualifications for a prospective Employer, argumentative, obstinate, obdurate, a good talker, champion of the underdog etc, etc, End of discussion really.\u003cbr /\u003eSo we then went on to the possibility of retraining, fine I said, whats on offer? Well it seems that there are several things you can retrain for some of which are provided free but anything meaningful you have to pay for. At this point I thought it only fair to point out to him that I will be 65 this year and would be looking forward to a well earned rest, although I have tried retirement before, I retired from Ambulance Service at 60 and lasted 9 weeks before I got bored and took the job I got made redundant from.\u003cbr /\u003eAlthough I am used to folks getting my age wrong due mainly to my youthful good looks I would have thought that this Advisor would have looked at my age before setting off on this quest to get me back to work.\u003cbr /\u003eAnyway as the regulations require I have to prove I am looking for work I have duly sent off some emails to various companies and wait to see if I even get a response as I understand that the norm is that you only get about 1 in 10 responses from contacts with prospective Employers.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI would have posted yesterday but I had writers cramp from filling in various forms, although I am lucky that I don’t have a mortgage my house is bought and paid for ( take note Anon 22.46 ) these are from Insurers who provide Payment Protection Insurance in case of sickness, unemployment etc and you are unable to pay your credit card bills, hp payments etc, all these forms seem to be about 15 pages long and ask the most irrelevant questions and demand the most outrageous evidence that my previous employer has to provide, some of this may take weeks to obtain due to the processes he has to follow but in the meantime despite the fact I am unemployed I still have to make the payments.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAs a result of this I now have my rant for another day, it seems that these insurance payments may be classed as ‘income’ and might affect any JSA I am entitled to.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAlthough I am now in the same boat as a rapidly rising number of people some folks reading this may get the impression that I am treating this a bit light heartedly, nothing could be further from the truth, its not the end of the world ( that possibility has gone now Bush has left the White House ) but I am not going to descend to the depths of despair and will continue to look on the bright side of life,,,,,,,,\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eCue Monty Python,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cobject width\u003d\"425\" height\u003d\"344\"\u003e\u003cparam name\u003d\"movie\" value\u003d\"http://www.youtube.com/v/jHPOzQzk9Qo\u0026amp;hl\u003den\u0026amp;fs\u003d1\"\u003e\u003cparam name\u003d\"allowFullScreen\" value\u003d\"true\"\u003e\u003cparam name\u003d\"allowscriptaccess\" value\u003d\"always\"\u003e\u003cembed src\u003d\"http://www.youtube.com/v/jHPOzQzk9Qo\u0026amp;hl\u003den\u0026amp;fs\u003d1\" type\u003d\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" allowscriptaccess\u003d\"always\" allowfullscreen\u003d\"true\" width\u003d\"425\" height\u003d\"344\"\u003e\u003c/embed\u003e\u003c/object\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-3307876967918299786?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/3307876967918299786/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d3307876967918299786\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"6 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/3307876967918299786"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/3307876967918299786"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/01/gissa-jobday-two.html","title":"Gissa job,,,,,day two."}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"6"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-1858071433409566420"},"published":{"$t":"2009-01-19T12:53:00.001Z"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-01-19T13:21:02.156Z"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Gissa a job Mista !!"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"As some of you will know I have joined the ranks of the unemployed, this of course gives me the chance to prove/disprove the fact that unemployed people are raking it in and much better off than employed people.\u003cbr /\u003eDay one, signing on:-\u003cbr /\u003eHow easy is this,,go to Job Centre, sign on, get money.\u003cbr /\u003e Well not quite as easy as it sounds, first they have moved the bloody place, second you cant actually get to see a person you have to phone Derby of all places, despite my protestations that I live in Ramsgate and didn’t want anything to do with Derby that is what you have to do, so after having made my protest and discretion being my middle name I decided to leave before I was escorted from the premises. Having got home and calmed down a bit I phoned Derby, after five minutes worth of pressing options 1-3-2-5-8-1-3- Hurrah !!, I actually spoke to a real person, now being a bit of a nerd I had downloaded the JSA Application form from t’internet and filled it in so I was ready to answer the questions this guy threw at me.  How wrong can you be !! either they have changed the form or they use a different one for telephone applications, anyway I started this phone call at 11-45 am and finally got off the phone at 12-30. 45 bloody minutes !!!\u003cbr /\u003eThe upshot of all this is that tomorrow I have to go to the Job Centre to presumably repeat the whole process in front of a person, I also need to take 2 forms of identity, proof of this, proof of that, proof of the next thing, proof of something else, what a palaver, and still no idea if I am going to get what I have paid into for my working life, you have to have the equivalent of 44 years contributions to be entitled to your full pension, etc.\u003cbr /\u003e I am initially convinced that the system is designed to put people off claiming JSA  or indeed any kind of benefit, for example the Council Tax benefit form is 40 pages long.\u003cbr /\u003eMy next battles will be with the folks who provide my payment protection insurance for my two credit cards, initial prolonged phone calls indicate that it will not be easy, I will also have to battle with something called The Insolvency Service as my Employer was declared insolvent and was not in a position to pay me notice, holiday money or redundancy pay.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFortunatly I have a bit of time on my hands now so it shouldn’t be a problem. \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eDay two follows tommorrow,,,,,,,,,\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-1858071433409566420?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/1858071433409566420/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d1858071433409566420\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"12 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/1858071433409566420"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/1858071433409566420"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/01/gissa-job-mista.html","title":"Gissa a job Mista !!"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"12"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-1059243194935749801"},"published":{"$t":"2009-01-13T18:18:00.001Z"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-01-13T18:21:19.438Z"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"New Blogs and Nimby's"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"I see that there are some new blogs on the scene as we get going into 2009. First new one is \u003ca href\u003d\"http://marknottingham.blogspot.com/\"\u003eCllr Mark Nottingham’s blog\u003c/a\u003e  containing news and views on things in Northwood, well worth a visit I think.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSecondly I see that there is a new anti everything brigade that have decided to enter the blogshpere. They are known by the appropriate acronym of  SMEG. As usual they seem to think that all the ills of the world can be laid at TDC’s door, well a large percentage probably can but as usual they conveniently overlook facts in an attempt to either discredit the Council or Infratil or anyone who happens to think that just maybe a thriving Airport would be a good thing and may create much needed employment in Thanet. As with all these NIMBY groups they want to hark back to the ‘good old days’. Well Comrades lets remind ourselves about the good old days, apart from poverty, rudimentary education, poor housing, jobs paying below subsistence wages, mass unemployment we had Rickets, Scarlet Fever, Diptheria, Ringworm, Tapeworm, Polio, Tuberculosis and no state funded hospitals or medicines to treat these conditions.\u003cbr /\u003eHad folks with foresight back then listened to the Nimby’s and Luddites we would still be enjoying those conditions listed above.\u003cbr /\u003eTry telling those who are looking for work at this time that we don’t need an Airport.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-1059243194935749801?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/1059243194935749801/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d1059243194935749801\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"11 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/1059243194935749801"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/1059243194935749801"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-blogs-and-nimbys.html","title":"New Blogs and Nimby's"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"11"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2259196698904770176.post-3446185029071037808"},"published":{"$t":"2008-12-19T13:35:00.002Z"},"updated":{"$t":"2008-12-19T13:49:57.531Z"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Another Embarrasing Shambles,,,,"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Another Embarrasing Shambles,,,,\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eYet again at last nights Council meeting we were treated to the experience of none of the senior Members or Officers apparently knowing what they were doing.\u003cbr /\u003eCasting my mind back to the last shambles, that was the meeting where we discussed the China Gateway application, when a Member called for a recorded vote none of the Officers nor the Chairman were able to say how this should be carried out. It was left to the Chairmans chauffer to supervise the process. Now I dont know why I should feel uncomfortable and a bit embarassed about this but I do, probably because it refelects badly on the Council as a whole and as a Member of the Council I am tarred with the same brush.\u003cbr /\u003eSo back to last nights debacle, during the course of discussion on Cabinet reports to Council Dave Green wanted to move an \u003cU\u003e\u003cB\u003eammendement\u003c/U\u003e\u003c/B\u003e as is his right but the Chair then took what passes for 'advice' from Officers and a five minute delay ensued while they debated among themselves whether he could move his \u003cU\u003e\u003cB\u003eammendment\u003c/U\u003e\u003c/B\u003e or not, it was finally decided that he would be 'allowed' to put his proposition. When he had finished speaking  further confusion reigned as it now seems that the collective senior members and Officers are unable to understand English and couldnt make out what he had proposed, despite the fact the he had informed the Cabinet Member a couple of days beforehand.  \u003cbr /\u003eWe then moved on to the next item that was to add to the list of roads in Thanet where unauthorised trading is prohibited. A simple enough exercise you would think ! The first cock up happened when the Cabinet couldnt decide whose Portfoilio it was in, I would have thought that common sense dictated that  you sort out who is speaking on what \u003cB\u003eBEFORE\u003c/B\u003e the meeting and not at the time. The net result was that Sandy Ezekiel stood up and proposed the changes, I had agreed to move an \u003cU\u003e\u003cB\u003eaddendum\u003c/U\u003e\u003c/B\u003e on behalf of the Labour Group and duly gave notice and stood up to move it. During the course of my speech there was sage nodding of heads from the Tory benches and murmers of hear,hear, when I had finished speaking I sat down feeling quite pleased with Myself as my speech had apparently been quite well received. Sandy Ezekiel then stood up and asked Council to reject my \u003cU\u003e\u003cB\u003eammendement\u003c/U\u003e\u003c/B\u003e. I was a bit miffed at this as quite clearly the Leader of the Council hadnt understood the difference between an \u003cU\u003e\u003cB\u003eammendement\u003c/U\u003e\u003c/B\u003e and an \u003cU\u003e\u003cB\u003eaddendum\u003c/U\u003e\u003c/B\u003e although I had quite clearly said that we accepted the changes and they should happen I was asking for an additional action to happen. When I pointed this out the addendum was allowed.\u003cbr /\u003eAfter this we went on to discuss training for Members of the local Standards Board, while I have no problem with training for Members the proposal actually says that unless a Member has had the training they wont be allowed to serve on that Board.\u003cbr /\u003eNow in a democracy that seems to be completly undemocratic and flies in the face of the basic fact that elected representatives for better or worse should reflect the community they represent and not be forced to follow the 'training' that tells you what you can and cant do. Although there are possible legal consequences of a Standards decision they should be pointed out at the time of considering a decision. This has already been introduced for the Councils Licensing Committee, there are also moves to make 'training' compulsary for the Members of the Planning Committee.\u003cbr /\u003eIn my opinion these moves are deliberatly designed to remove Members from the decision making process and further emasculate us. When challenged, usually by Labour or Independant Members the Officers who tell us that we \" have no choice\" are actually unable to point us in the direction of the peice of legislation that tells us we \" have no choice\" but the Tory majority go weakly along with this thus further eroding our effectivness and ability to influence events and policy.\u003cbr /\u003eThis of course is typical Conservativism, a do nothing, make no decision, play it safe way of thinking then they cant be blamed when something goes wrong.\u003cbr /\u003eEvery decision the Council makes should be guided by the Constitution and that is why it is important that every Councillor should  understand the Constitution and more importantly the Rules of Debate that we work under so if any training is needed should be aimed at those who hold office as Members and senior Officers who's job it is to advise those Members.\u003cbr /\u003eWhat we have at the moment  is a shambles of a Constitution, senior Officers and Members who dont understand it and Junior Officers who havnt been trained in its implementation and most back bench Members who havnt a clue about it either.\u003cbr /\u003eThat is one of, but not the only reason that the Council is currently seen as a complete dogs breakfast. \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003ep.s. I have just got off the phone to TDC's Planning department who tell that although I want a planning application in my Ward to come before the Committe I have to have 'planning grounds' for that to happen. As I understand my role as a Councillor it is to represent the veiws of my constituents regardles of their race, colour, creed, voting intention, background or expertise in planning grounds, I just want to go to the Planning meeting and say my bit on their behalf but now apparently I have to be an expert in planning law as well.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2259196698904770176-3446185029071037808?l\u003dnewingtonblogspot.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/feeds/3446185029071037808/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2259196698904770176\u0026postID\u003d3446185029071037808\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"26 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/3446185029071037808"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2259196698904770176/posts/default/3446185029071037808"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com/2008/12/another-embarrasing-shambles.html","title":"Another Embarrasing Shambles,,,,"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Cllr. Mike Harrison"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03395087168684101641"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"14702034994378520492"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"26"}}]}});