Did you know that Thanet has a "Bus Strategy" (whatever that might be). It basically sketches out the idea that from 2000 to 2010 TDC and KCC want to achieve a few things and are willing to pay to get there.

Should you want to you can read the Thanet Bus Plan here: http://www.thanet.go...THANET170304.pdf.

Up until now I had wondered why Stagecoach seemed to suddenly gain such a strong hold in the area and why a number of the little bus companies (such as the much cheaper "Thanet Bus") vanished at the end of the 1990s. The answer it seems is that TDC and KCC wanted it that way.

Keep reading to find out more.

...

» Continue Reading: Buses - TDC's Answer to Traffic Problems (apparently)

Anxious people are difficult to be around. They don’t learn well, they’re not adaptable, and they’re obsessed with the worst possible scenario. They’re not good at seeing any point of view beyond their own distress and fear, and they become experts at raining on parades.

Sonia Simone, Three Ways to Grow Your Blog Community in an Economic Crisis

Does this sound familiar?

To me this sounds like a pretty accurate description of Thanet both online and off. I'd go so far as to suggest that Thanet as a whole is frightened and so far we bloggers have done little aside from add to the screams. What the Thanet community needs from us is a little [...] old-fashioned compassion [...] to quote Sonia Simone again. Yes, we have a minor economic crisis going on but when don't we - this is Thanet.

You, the Thanet blogger (or potential blogger), have more tools available to do this than you might first think.

...

» Continue Reading: How to Blog in Thanet During an Economic Crisis

Barbara Ouddah a café owner from Birchington was given a suspended prison sentenced of nine months imprisonment and ordered to do 100 hours of community service for her part in money laundering in order to supply criminals serving time in a Kent prison with Heroin.

Barbara Ouddah for some reason apparently spent £9,000 on heroin for her foster son Wesley Adyinka (Dalby Square, Cliftonville) while he was a prisoner at Elmley Prison. In total from August 2006 to May 2007 Kent Police monitored over £14,000 being paid to an account held by one Nadia Baptiste (London) the partner of another prisoner at Elmley Prison. The full chain of events can be read on the Kent Police Website.

The sentence was given towards the end of September at Maidstone Crown Court and marks the end of two years of investigations by Kent Police’s Serious Economic Crime Unit. Other Thanet residents include Stephen and Brian MacDonagh (Bath Road in Margate) You can read more from Kent News although they echo closely the content from the Kent Police Website. (For a fresh telling of the story try invictafm.co.uk).

The life of crime: The £14,000 that Nadia Baptiste of London obtained during the investigation represents an average turnover of around £1,500 a month. As businesses go this is a very small turnover as the average enterprise is only looking to make between 5% and 20% on the cost of materials. Like in any other business the £14,000 would have to include the cost of obtaining the heroin and possibly the cost of transporting it to the prison.

Does crime actually pay? Keep reading to find out.

...

» Continue Reading: Birchington Business Woman in Drugs Scandal

When we talk of the poor let's be clear that we are talking about those on benefits. All forms of benefits from council tax benefit to tax credits. Today we are going to explore the effect of not "giving money to scroungers".

Let us imagine that Gordon Brown wakes up tomorrow and forgetting that he is a member of the Labour party starts to listen to those people in Thanet that keep saying that those people on out of work benefits should "get a job".

Let's imagine that he listens so so well that he passes a new law. From now on there will be no tax credits, no JSA, no council tax benefit, no housing benefits, no income support, no incapacity benefit and no disability living allowance. In short all hand outs are outlawed. To stop himself loosing the next election the "No Handouts Act 2008" also says that only those people who have paid all their taxes may vote.

There will be complaints, of course but let us imagine that Gordon Brown uses his new found "genius" to silence complaints and suppress the riots and attempted revolution that is the most likely as around 33% to 50% loose the right to vote and the income they have been living on.

But you tax bill falls so fast it makes your head spin. You the working guy are now richer than you have ever been. Gordon Brown is now a genius right?

What would happen next? Keep reading to find out.

...

» Continue Reading: The No Handouts Act 2008

It was a cold and frosty morning today. At a little after seven this morning I started the school run and as ever had my trsty phone with me to take a few snaps as I went.



The frost (which delighted my children) did indeed look fantastic but by 9am it had gone. If you have any plants that are not frost hardy and not inside then you probably don't have them any more.

Keep reading to see more photos.

...

» Continue Reading: This is the way we go to school on cold and frosty morning

I have just finished looking at a truly hysterical missive from our council to it's tenants. The document in question is a shocking example of the inability of Thanet's council to use the basic English language.

It seems TD want to know how they can be a better landlord and are starting to ask questions (no doubt to tick a few objectives boxes with some carefully modified statistics).

Question one says: How long were you/your household been a tenant of Thanet District Council Housing Services?

Now stop me anytime you like but surely that should be "how long have you been a..." OR "how long were you a..." - after all "were you" places the status in the past but not the present while "been" places the status in the past continuing thought the present and into the future. Basic English means that you can not mix tenses like that.

Tony Flaig who, quite rightly, couldn't give a flying elephant's backside about the finer points of the Language beyond being able to say what he things could (a) have asked the question better and (b) spotted the error a mile off. The TDC employees who apparently have a lot more education than the average bear (at least in Thanet) should have never let that one slip out the gate in the first place. In short they need to feel quite completely ashamed of themselves.

What else did they get wrong - read on to find out.

...

» Continue Reading: Thanet District Council Blunder of the Week

It's two years until we get to vote for a new council. What might happen in that time? What are the full implications of the mismanagement of the banks and the resultant devaluing of the pound to cover these losses to us in Thanet? We take look at the likely outcome for the next year or two and what we in Thanet can do about it.

It might seem that those of us who vote hold all the power but public opinion here and abroad is rapidly reaching the conclusion that we voters don't mater half as much as some other groups.

It seems to many these days that the most important entities in the UK are not voters or health workers but banks and finanical institutions. Why, ask so many, when we cock up we must pay but when they cock up we must pay twice?

This undefined "many" had their worst fears confirmed when in an act potentially aggressive enough to start a war Gorden Brown (ab)used anti-terror laws and seized Icelandic assets in the UK. Unsurprisingly those whose country just had it's assist annexed are less than impressed with us.

You can read more about the seizure of Icelandic assets with the BBC but I think it is obvious that had we done this to America or any other country with a reasonable military arm then right now we would be at war.

Iceland with it's total population of 300,000 (around twice that of Thanet) feels that it has been significantly wronged by Gorden Brown and the people are (unsurprisingly) angrier than a China Gateway protester. Allegedly Gorden Brown has been ignoring the advice from the Foreign Office again and effectively starting hostilities with a close neighbour because a business running from their soil got into the same trouble a number of businesses running from our soil did.


So what can we expect to happen - read on to find out

...

» Continue Reading: The Next Two Years in Thanet

I was up near the allotments by Draper's Windmill today and happened to notice a fire smouldering away in some long dry grass and what-have-you (I'm not exactly Mr Expert on these things).

I'm not sure if the fire started because someone threw a cigarette away or because someone tried to burn stuff. Does anyone know if similar incidents have taken place in the last few weeks? (or is this a one off?).

A quick note of thanks to Peter (of Naked in Thanet fame) for providing a link to the BBC news item on the China Gateway decision. here.

The result of the vote shows that the majority of councillors do not understand Thanet, it's people or the art of getting re-elected. As I have already said politically this is a bad time to have voted in favour of the scheme. Councillors whose parties have received donations or who have other interests cared for by the developers have set themselves up to look grossly dishonest.

Worse yet the entire council has presented itself in colours of corruption and bias by having a financial stake in the outcome.

Already people do not generally hold the council in high regard and the level of trust in Thanet District Council is near an all time low. This decision while unlikely to result in anything being built will only serve to blacken the already heavily sooted name of the local council.

It defies belief that a deferral for even a few months was not seen as the best option. I think it is time to find out how our councillors voted. Speak up chaps.

Councillor David Green has addressed the China Gateway vote in a blog posting. In his post he praised the efforts of Michael Child to [...] get the Council to include more of the statutary consultees comments so the public can see them. In his post Cllr Green detailed that he had read all relevant documents and undertaken site visits and consultations over and above the minimum expected of him.

Cllr Green was very clear that he had yet to reach a conclusion as to how he will vote although commenters have speculated this is to avoid being removed from the vote. Similarly he addressed the issue of the donations to his party from the developer and if it had biased his opinion. I have concluded that it has not he said.

Councillor David Green also joined Cllr Chris Wells in calling for the debate to be broadcast. There is too much distrust of Councillors around this issue, said Cllr Green, broadcasting the meeting might help the public to understand the issues as they are put in a Planning context. I understand that the Planning Committee is already routinely recorded, so there is no excuse in not broadcasting it, even if it cannot be done live.

Local residents not so keen on the closure of the Maritime Museum in Ramsgate have started a facebook "cause" to raise money to get it reopened. Is this a case of "you don't know what you got 'till it's gone" or too little too late. I joined up with the group to find out.

Save Ramsgate Maritime Museum is a small group having just started recently. It has already achieved 16 members and US$0.00 donated.

Okay so this is not the worlds biggest group (yet) but if other face book groups are anything to go buy then we can expect to see a few thousand members. All signs point to this group being less than 24 hours old so this is possibly a huge start.

My question is - who handles the money and how will it be spent? The answer to this question will have a massive impact on how effective a fund raiser this group (cause in facebook speak) is going to be.