With the soon-to-be confirmed termination of the Gang of Four: Ezekiel, Latchford, Samuel and White, and the closure of Manston Airport I’m beginning to be concerned that I may not have enough to do as MP.
As the Gang of Four cling on hoping to wait until after the June elections it's best if they go and go now. We have a lame duck council and lame duck MP's.
David Cameron has confirmed in The Sunday Times today that he recommends the number of MP’s is to reduce by 60. I think this is a sensible policy: as with Messrs Gale and Ladyman they’ve simply failed the area.
Roger Gale now has no policies except in fitting out his French 2nd home and taxes for expats.
And speaking for Silent Sandys: the latest parachute candidate for Thanet.
I’ll be writing to Conservative Head Office recommending delisting of Roger given the failures at Thor, Sericol and the repeated burning down of Margate requiring Margate’s electoral boundaries to be split in two at the next election.
With Roger in Minster expect an increase in mystery fires and barn developments.
The UK is overstaffed with MP’s (over 600) and Lords (over 700): these could be slashed by half for little impact in lawmaking or debate given we are a developed economy and most new laws are simply updates of existing ones or derive from Europe.
I’ll also vote to remove the last few hereditary Lords. Plus fixed terms and elections for MP’s.
The USA manages with 400 in the House of Representatives and 100 Senators.
And with ChinaGate pulled in for Scrutiny I’ll need to think of more policy detail to improve the area.
A dozen French truckers parking and defecating on the beaches can be herded away by a single reporter with a notebook but in 3 years it’s impossible for councillors, civil servants or Kent Police to do anything. No action. No salaries. The evening Kent Police squad car patrol or RAF Police don't seem to care.
Maybe 8 council meetings a years plus random EGM’s to hustle through changes with fake consultations on the quiet isn’t the best way to run one of the UK’s worst councils.
Sacking the Gang of Four is a good improvement.
Check out www.fixmystreet.com/reports which details public concerns over street repairs at KCC and TDC: these should form regular Cabinet and Police reports for action. No action. No salaries.
Missing noise monitors at a supposedly international airport.
Never-supplied noise and air monitors for the towns.
Broken radar at a supposedly international airport.
Industrial solvent, aviation fuel and poison in the water.
Plus broken signs, potholes and council tax increases. It’s an absurd turnaround of effective public services for a modest charge on the public.
The Gang of Four are incompetent and our MP’s no better.
For years and decades.
Steve Ladyman says: “Of course there are risks surrounding activities at the airport but these are being managed properly as are industrial practices in the area”
Roger Gale says: "This (water pollution) isn’t necessarily the fault of the airport or big business”
And all Thanet’s 58 sheep-councillors are silent and follow the Party Line.
The Kent Kipper should be introduced to stand against under-performing councillors.
With regular street cleaning rotas and reduction of civil servants and councillors these problems are easily fixed. TDC should be a useful benchmark in witholding pensions and pay increases for failure.
I’ll need to spend a little more time on foreign policy as MP and outline thoughts are:
# an Inquiry into Infratil’s operations in Scotland and Germany: If they’ve breached all known aviation guidelines in Manston then they’ll probably be doing the same in Prestwick or Lubeck. Unless those towns have a more effective council. I’ll invite the New Zealand ambassador to view the pollution damage to a UNESCO Bay too by the Kiwi Criminals.
# calling in KCC’s investments in Total and Burma – then nationwide: the last main investor in what the USA describes as a “war criminal” regime
# World Parliament assembly as recommended by the UN and EU and many nations for a “House of Commons” elected citizen assembly in the UN instead of just appointed Ministers and Ambassadors – I’ll call for the first UK elections in Kent
# similarly the foolish KCC investments in tobacco companies: I’m not aware of any local government investments in tobacco now. A central register should be kept for investment policy of “beyond the pale” corporations
# recalling Planning permission for Total petrol stations: selling them to BP or Shell
# appointing Aung San Suu Kyi as Chairman of TDC or KCC: the current role is meaningless given a casting vote and should be ceremonial/unpaid anyway given Mayors - while appointing a British citizen jailed for 20 years in one of the world’s most repressive dictatorships will highlight the problem
# inviting the Belarus heads of state to Kent to see democracy in action: the recent EU travel ban for the last repressive regime in Europe is about to be lifted
# twinning Africa with Kent towns: initially to help end the conflicts in Congo, Chad, Somalia, Sierra Leone and Central African Republic
# forward aid delivery with EU peacekeeping troops in Africa and Burma
# increased sanctions on North Korea via China
I need to given these more thought but with the sacking of the Gang of Four, the closure of Manston and the end of ChinaGate some of these will need developing alongside improving the local area given the years and decades of failure by a bottom 10% council in a county with £2Bn income.
With the DirectGov website listing all government services, most local government services, or those from Quango’s, seem high on flannel and short on action. And less on delivering real and improved services against clear targets.
Direct funding of the town councils from KCC and consolidation of what few council services there are, and the termination of foolish white elephant schemes like international cargo airports opposite an international cargo airport in Ostend.
And an international ferry port next to Dover the world’s largest international ferry port, an Election Ferry that don’t fit the harbour, and an out-of-town- shopping centre built 5 minutes drive from the town centres will free up more funding for regeneration.
And more effective regeneration.
And less for motorways and 2-bed flats that seems to form much of previous Kent policies as London’s Patio.
Our council has failed and our MP’s have failed.
The Gang of Four are little better than criminals.
Time for Change.
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