With the recent fuss over councillors blogging this time being led by Simon Moores one has to ask if it is all so much sour grapes at no longer being head of the pack?

Art collective "Kites Not Scissors" is looking to match up creative young people from the Thanet area with equally creative projects including art exhibitions, open mic sessions, poetry readings, film making, plays, and probably a lot more too.

Normally I would tell you all about it but as Selina Tolfree has taken the time to write such a nice message I'll let Selina tell you all about it.

Image Credit: Selina Tolfree

Keep reading now.

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» Continue Reading: Kites and Not Scissors

Less than a year after the US voted not to impose additional regulation of bloggers (link, cometry from Iain Dale) Thanet District Council are proposing to do likewise.The councillor behind this draft is none other than blogger (Dr) Simon Moores himself.

Given that Cllr Moores appears to feel that the beast has gotten away from him when it comes to blogging - this is no way to correct things.

The problem, if one can be said to exist, in Thanet blogging is not going to ever be fixed by regulation. If Cllr Moores had the material to sue anyone as he has threatened in the past then surely he would have done so. We have laws regarding libel and slander for a very good reason and they are well seasoned and tested laws.

No the two problems that actually exist are

(a) the myth that removing comments you don't like is censorship when the truth is that the comments are a curtsey offered to readers.

and

(b) An ongoing lack of respect between councillors one to another in a climate of hostile mud slinging.


Keep reading to find out why this new regulation will harm Thanet and keep us in the dark ages.

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» Continue Reading: Oh For Blogs Sake!

A big Thank You to my friend Dave C for dropping everything to come over with sweats and caffinated beverages when I needed it most.

I know he reads this blog (he tells me off if it's not updated regularly).

Cheers mate - you are a good (and possibly embarrassed) friend.

(More updates soon).


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It was a year ago today that Thanet Star published Thanet's Reaction to Westwood Cross.

Opinion was very much divided on if Westwood cross (AKA WC) was a good thing. The answer to this question appeared to depend on what effects of Westwood Cross you choose to look at. One year on and has very much changed?

How do you feel about Westwood Cross and have your feelings changed from a year ago?

Photo by Andrew M Butler

Joblessness is on the rise says the BBC.

Yes, the BBC department for publishing the ruddy obvious has told us something we already know but backed it up with good old statistics. The beeb opened by telling us that lack of jobs ...rose by a record 281,000 to 2.38 million in the three months to May. Apparently this came directly from the number jugglers at the Office for National Statistics.

Is it any wonder that Thanet has so many recruitment agencies?

Have you ever used a third party to help find you work?

How did it work out?


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Swine Flu - are you worried about it?



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I'm not going to get a chance to write anything for today so here is a picture of the beach for you to enjoy.



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A year ago today Thanet Star reported that Thanet District Council (and others) had been told off over treatment of people's privacy. In Council Privicy Trashed Thanet Star mentioned that councils were being told to be clear to about which companies they were selling ellectrol roll data to.

I don't see any signs of this being implimented but worse yet Thanet District Council have become even more careless with people's privacy.

Take a trip to the gateway in Margate. Anyone with business to conduct there will need to take a ticket and wait. A recent visit took 45 minutes to file a signle scribbled note confirming in writting what every member of staff should have known full well (if they have ever spoken to me on the phone).

A recent change at the Gateway means that everyone knows the subject of your business. Tickets are devided into groups and ticket numbers now follow a letter number, number, number pattern. That letter tells you what the nature of the enquirey is.

I don't know about you but I feel that my business with TDC is between me and TDC and I don't especially feel the need to have everyone in the building know what I'm going to be addressing on each visit.

The potential for social engineering is incredible. If a fraudster wanted to target some of our more vulnerable inhabitants say those with council tax issues, benefits claims or housing needs they can quickly see who to home in on.

There is no need for showing the topic in the ticket number. That's just bad design. I could show you three different ways to run a ticket system with no leaked information at all.

We here at Thanet Star Towers have not yet boarded up our windows and gone to that big old printing press in the sky. However, I do appear to be suffering from too much to do.

While things are slowing down here for the summer they could be hotting up elsewhere for example at Live in Thanet.

What summer activities (if any) are keeping you away from the keyboard?

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I've been spending most of this week out of the area in a remote location called Herne Bay. Yeah that's pretty far away or something.

Oddly it seems very much like Thanet but with bits that are better. Human beings live there.

If you fancy a good old fashioned hymn singing session then get down to the clock tower in Margate.

The afternoon there will be an hour of Sunday hymns at the Margate clock tower for those that enjoy a good old fashioned sing-a-long. It's being put on by a number of churches and I understand there will be a band to accompany the singers.