Our ability to take the time to verify a real officer could be as trustworthy as Thanet's bogus police con-men

A young man in his mid-to-late thirty's recently contacted me because he was upset about the content of a YourThanet article about bogus policemen. For ease of reference we'll call him John (not his real name).

I have known John for a good few years and he has always been a no-nonsense parent (of two very lively children) who tends to keep himself to himself. John pointed me to a quote from the local police at the end of the article and told me why he was so upset.

In the article we read Detective Sergeant Claire Munday saying: Should someone call at your home and you are not confident they are genuine, close the door and call Kent Police for verification. None of our officers will mind if you do this.

However John told me that this is not the case. A year and half ago John was on the receaving end of a seriouse campaign of harrasment. The bully in this case took it upon themself to phone john and threaten him aa well as making regular calls to solicial services, police and other agencies. As you would expect this ment visits from said agnecies who left claiming that there was no problem to be seen.

John even made a formal complaint to the police about what was going on and for a time things died down with only occasional phone calls and letters from unlikely government agencies.

Then one morning after a seriouse bombardment of phone calls (in which the bully threatened to have John killed) social services phoned John to say that they would visit him arround 1pm. Fearing the worst and not knowing which calls were real and which were fake John attempted to arrange to have his children visit thier grandfather's.

At 9:15am two women claiming to be from social services knocked at his door. Sure now that something was very wrong John sent them away again.

Shortly after there was another knock at the door and two men claiming to be police offciers demanded that they be allowed in. Being alone with his children John was worried and panicking, so attempting to buy more time while we tried to find out if these were real officers - he refused them entry.

Their reaction was brutal.

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» Continue Reading: Why we fear the police

There is a Mini Cooper up for grabs for those quick enough to grab the opportunity. It is being offered by a UK competitions site which means that the prize must be real and the entry must be free. These guys have been going for years now giving away prizes in free prize draws.

Obviously, there can only be one car winner... actually there can only be three winners (read on).

Not only can you Win a Mini Cooper but there is also a Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec and a compact Renault Clio Dynamique also up for grabs.

These offers are good for first time users and those that have entered these contests before. Best of luck to each and everyone of you.

It's that time again when I get to talk to potential advertisers and see what funds can be raised to keep this and other blogs I run live and available to you.

Up for grabs in the next few months are a couple of the prime sponsor slots (top of the page between the two menu's and a set of four untaken slots in the sidebar.

These sponsorship locations are an indication of the value that the sponsors company offers to Thanet Star and to the best bidder goes the spoils. It works like this - you (or any other company) offer me what you think is a fair amount for sponsorship of Thanet Star, per month, for a length of time that is also up to you. The monthly rate times the number of months equals the value and the highest value get's the best spot. All offers of all sizes will be seriously and gratefully considered.

All sponsors get a write up and as such I reserve the right to say no if you happen to be a particularly unpleasant scallywag. A valuable SEO report may, if you have a website, also be published giving you an expert's recommendations at no extra cost while allowing me to show my skills.

Read More About Sponsoring Thanet Star.

The Liberal Democrats missed the opportunity to snipe a Conservative safe seat this election

A guide for low budget Liberal Democrats fighting seats they are unlikely to win. Just because you have little or no budget does not mean that you shouldn't give the safe seat's margins a sound thrashing. This is your guide to some of the things you could and should be doing.

With just a little knowledge and low cost effort Laura Murphy could have beaten Roger Gale in the general elections for what is a very safe Conservative seat.

This is how.

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» Continue Reading: The Lib Dems could have beaten Roger Gale

Michael Britton's spectacular lack of ambition in the face of fairly long odds should be an example to us all... or not.

Please feel free to suggest alternative text. The best ideas will be published.

Actually I am starting to feel like voting in Thanet Might be a bad idea. The only people that it might be worth voting for are random fringe party candidates with no hope of getting more than a tiny fraction of the votes.

I have no intention of voting Conservative having seen more to convince me not to recently than to convince me I have anything to gane.

I have little intention of voting Labour other than Gorden Brown showed a tiny inclination towards transparency by asking Sir Tim Berners Lee for help. Sadly though, Labour could not even be bothered to show us a picture of their North Thanet candidate which shows us how much they value our vote, opinion and interests. (Not at all, I'd say).

I have a swiftly deminishing inclination to vote Liberal Democrats because it seems that locally the Lib Dems have all the interest in Thanet of a well roasted turnip on a silver plate somewhere in Outer Mongolia.

Take, for example, Peter Bucklitsch who is standing for South Thanet. His evry small online contribution brags about getting elelcted on a few random councils and how he can identify much better with the needs and aspirations of the constituency. Which is all well and good except that he expects us to write to him (and presumably visit him) in Sandwich.

Peter Bucklitsch: a quick update you are standing for Thanet, mate. Get your backside over here right now!

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» Continue Reading: Why voting Lib-Dem in Thanet might be a bad idea.

Latest polls suggest that there may be sufficient support for a landslide victory.

'Sun' censored poll that showed support for Lib Dems claims the Independent. The article goes on to say that Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems) may have enough support to form a majority government.

YouGov also found that if people thought Mr Clegg's party had a significant chance of winning the election, it would win 49 per cent of the votes, with the Tories winning 25 per cent and Labour just 19 per cent. One in four people Labour and one in six Tory supporters say they would switch to the Liberal Democrats in these circumstances. The party would be ahead among both men and women, in every age and social group, and in every region. On a uniform swing across Britain, that would give the Liberal Democrats 548 MPs, Labour 41 and the Tories 25.

For reasons that no one has clarified yet Thanet District Council have proudly announced the purchase of a pub. This property is described by Thanet Council as a vital piece of the regeneration jigsaw puzzle in their press release.

However they go on to say that this so called vital piece of the puzzle is that they can now build houses. I kid you not. According to the council's own website this centrepiece for regeneration is building more houses. Can anyone please explain to me why or how this could be effective regeneration at any time ever? I am, quite frankly, utterly lost as to the thinking behind this move.

The former Flowing Bowl pub in the Centre, Newington, was bought by the council earlier this month (April). It had been derelict for a number of months before the purchase and was becoming an eyesore property. It will now become part of the major regeneration plans for the Centre. Although no specific plans have yet been put forward for the site, it is likely that it will be used for housing.

Have I missed something? Are our council actually suggesting this to us? What's going on. The comments are open to all.

When voting for an MP it helps to know if they are likely to think for themselves or just do what the party tells them to do. Let's see how North and South Thanet stack up

Ladyman is a party man rated as having nver rebelled whereas Gale hardly ever rebels. What does this mean in English?

In short both North and South Thanet have been reprisented by MPs that mroe or less always do as they are told but that North Thanet (Conservative) has sometimes gone against the flow.

Will this impact on votes? Probably not.

Is North Thanet's long standing MP (Roger Gale) a pro-smoking, anti-gay, environmentalist with little interest in democracy? (You tell me).

According to theyworkforyou.com Roger Gale Voted very strongly against equal gay rights and moderately against introducing a smoking ban. On the other hand he has voted very strongly for a hunting ban and for laws that stop climate change.

Interestingly Roger Gale, whose majority was 7,634 votes seems to have voted both ways or not at all on the subjects of a wholly elected House of Lords and transparent Parliament while being strongly against the removal of hereditary peers from the House of Lords.

Mr Gale also voted very strongly for the Iraq war.

So is this good, bad or indifferent?

Is South Thanet's last MP (Stephen Ladyman) a pro-war, anti-democratic, totalitarian? (You tell me)

Stephen Ladyman has, according to theyworkforyou.com shown himself to be against climate change prevention laws and very strongly for anti-terror laws (which included holding suspects without charge for long periods of time) and for a the introduction of ID cards (something that opponents fear will impact on civil liberties).

While he was opposing laws to remove hereditary peers from the House of Lords Stephen Ladyman has also voted strongly against a wholly elected House of Lords and against a transparent Parliament. Reform, it seems, does not suit Stephen Ladyman at all well (in that he seems to be in agreement with Roger Gale).

Stephen Ladyman also supported the war and strongly opposed any investigation into the war.

Does this sound like a man who loves his secrets, power and privilege to you? Has he voted in a way that represents what you think? Is his record good, bad or indifferent? Tell me.

£160,000 is being spent on "Czech/Roma Integration" in Thanet by the home office according to Alan Campbell.

Quite what this "intergration" might be or even what is meant by "Czech/Roma Integration" remains another question entirely.

The information was mentioned in a written answer to Stephen Ladyman (South Thanet, Labour) from Alan Campbell (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Tynemouth, Labour) back at the beginning of march.

If anyone would like to clarify what this actually means I would be most grateful.

Czech/Roma Integration - £70,000 in respect of year one (2009-10) and £90,000 provisionally awarded for year two (2010-11) focused which is specifically Thanet Alan Campbell (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Tynemouth, Labour); Written answers and statements, 5 March 2010

According to an unnamed report the Thanet Times suggests that more complaints were made about Thanet District Councillors than anything else.

The article, a filler on page 3, headlined "Councillors turn on each other" suggests the second highest number of complaints was about parish councillors by members of the public about whom a grand total of 6 complaints over the unspecified time period were received.

Over that same time period Thanet District Councillors had 23 complaints made about them by other councillors. Even factoring for the number of complaints outgoing leader Sandy Ezekiel famously has amassed that's still a fair few complaints.

Sadly Thanet Times reporters have forgotten what they learned in school and failed to cite their sources. If anyone knows what report the Thanet Times staff are talking about a fair few people would be interested in finding out.

Tunbridge Wells hip posh crew Golly Gosh on why you need to register to vote. And yes their council did employ them to make this. Odds of Thanet District Council fronting up cash for a similar campaign around here?

In this article I want to revisit a topic that I last touched on in 2008. Why numbers matter in business online.

Numbers mater. If you want to know what the score is in a game of football you look at the scoreboard. If you want to know if you are winning or loosing at blogging you look at the numbers too.

Take things back further to the 3rd of April 2008 and you could read To get ahead in business - ask a blogger! and in that I showed how the leading sites of Thanet stack up in terms of valid visitors, quality of traffic and likely traction in the market place.

Part of that is down to SEO. I am strongly for quality SEO rather than snake oil, I'm all for taking Thanet beyond web design and that's all good but the one thing I want you to take away from this is that the numbers do not lie - you can tell who has understood and who has failed to understand from the numbers.

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» Continue Reading: Why numbers still mater in Thanet

Back then I said that Thanet's water would be safe. I observed that Michael Child along with a number of quality non bloggers) have been carrying out the highly thankless task of chasing red paper and getting the facts established.

A year and a half later and nothing has happened.

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» Continue Reading: Thanet's Water Will Be Fine. Yes, I'm Still Being Serious.

With Sandy departing us to spend time with the fish what does the future hold?

This publication has never shied away from the glaringly obvious (that Sandy was not the right fellow for the job) but now that he is gone, or at least going... eventually... maybe...

Now that his days are allegedly numbered what is next for Thanet?

Anyone remember this? Seems strangely foreboding now.

According to my sources 107.8 Academy FM started transmitting midday today. I can't say that I tuned in due to other very pressing commitments. Did anyone catch any of today's broadcast?

Apparently we in Thanet are lacking in the funny bone department. The Official Monster Raving Loony Party are having trouble finding candidates in the Thanet area.

Howlin' Laud, leader of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party said: We would really like to hear from anyone who feels they can represent us at the election in Thanet. He went on to add We are the official loony party not to be confused with the other loony parties – Labour, Conservative and Liberal!

According to YourThanet.co.uk the Official Monster Raving Loony Party were the first to call for pet passports and a lower voting age. Under all that madness there might be wisdom... who knows.

Sandy Ezekiel is gone but not quite gone.

In a move that was likely as tactical as any the "leader" of the local council has stepped down from his role as leader of the Conservatives in Thanet. Ezekiel quits as leader of Thanet Tories screams youthanet.co.uk while Thanet council leader steps down shouts ThisIsKent.co.uk. Unusually I can find very little blog coverage to report.

Labour leader Cllr Clive Hart was quick to say that Ezekiel has left Thanet in a sorry state according to YourThanet.co.uk.

Ezekiel will remain leader of Thanet District Council until May when it is expected that Bob Bayford who has taken over as leader of the conservatives will replace him.

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» Continue Reading: Ezekiel quits

Delays of up to an hour are being experince by Thanet's bus users today.

This is due, apparently, to an accident somewhere on Thanet's roads on the main bus route between Ramsgate and Margate. I don't currently have any further details but here is to hopeing that no one was hurt.