A Jockowi not Farage election in Contaminated Kent

What surprising election results - to some extent.

At a national level though, the flurry of excitement around the Tory victory, on reflection, seems somewhat exaggerated.

The majority is the weakest since 1974 and a vociferous SNP clique will be demanding both independence and anti-austerity measures for Scotland.

And quite right too.

So much for Ukip’s 25 seats forecasted. And now the UK largely run by the Jocks and Welsh and Belgians.

The majority victory surprised everyone even the victors – but to some extent is understandable in three areas:

• The over-reliance on polling a few hundred people - and where the 5% variance would mean a surprise winner from the tied result anyway
• The weakness of Labour under Miliband
• The punishment of the Libdems for reneging on tuition fees

You can flesh out your own detailed views around those points. But already it seems incredibly foolish to ditch reducing MP’s from 650 to 600 as pledged in the manifesto, and wasted and spurious effort on trying to rework the EU Human Rights Act that is in effect Magna Carta or the UN Declaration.

And the loss of so many talented politicians such as Cable, Murphy and Hughes could delay more sensible policies such as cancelling the BBC licence fee and reducing the headcount at BIS, FCO Prosperity and DECC etc.

Even robust policies on reforming the bloat and waste of the EU while fast-forwarding the accession of Serbia, Russia, Turkey, Caspian and North Africa.

While with the 40th anniversary of the liberation of Saigon, Europe and Asia are in the throes of an outpouring of more Boat People from broken nations such as Libya and Somalia and the ethnic cleansing of Burma and trafficking death camps in Thailand and Malaysia and as far afield as Jokowi’s Indonesia and Australia.

And in Kent we have the defeat of UKIP Leader Farage yet the UK’s first UKIP council at TDC.

There too perhaps easily explained by a narrow Tory victory over Farage due to his parachute candidate status and as a love-hate Marmite politician with no real policies beyond race-war and being photographed drinking beer.

For me his low point came with the unpleasant and foolish attack on foreigners with HIV using the NHS – a repulsive and inhuman policy that for similar pandemics would actually jeopardise every UK citizen and anyway costs but a fraction of a percent of the NHS.

Plaid Cymru cited it well that Estonian waitresses and Polish plumbers weren’t responsible for the bank crash - but Cityboy traders like Farage speculating on tin or wheat. Even now few fines and fewer jail sentences are handed out for the LIBOR fraud etc.

And the election simply failed to answer how the parties would drive economic growth or solve Climate Change.

And Farage’s silence on the TDC corruption and Manston contamination is detailed in my blog posts below.

With a UKIP TDC though it means something of a breath of fresh air in uprooting many of the stagnant and corrupt Labour and Tory groups in Kent – indeed decimating Thanet Labour to just 4 candidates and 1 at KCC. And even decimating both Labour MP candidates to c.10k votes each.

Albeit with similarly low turnout as previous elections with over 30% of electorate not voting - and over 800k votes lost nationally by the weird new voter registration scheme actually managing to reduce voters!

The party memberships have similarly plummeted from 10% of the electorate in the 1950’s to under 1% now.

All the UKIP candidates are unknown so it remains to be seen what policies if any they will have.

Coupled with Farage’s laughable un-resignation the UKIP bubble for Thanet seems to have burst already.

Happily the voters rejected both Von Latchford and NF Heale as well as Negro Roz. Some of the UKIP KCC seem to have been rejected too.

And the scoundrel Everitt booted out with the Port and Pleasurama scandals. And only 2 or 3 family teams and fewer doublehatters to reduce democracy.

TingTong Janice as MEP seems to have been rejected in her bizarre appeal to UKIP’s sacking of her.

My concern though was best expressed by one of those word cloud thingies that flashed on the screen during election night where the 3 main words were FARAGE, KENT and RACIST.

Sickening and not true of Kent or the councils.

But that’s what people now know South Thanet for.

I must admit to be surprised the Independents, Thanet United and Reality Party and Green candidates didn’t do better but reassuring that Illegal Cunningham of the LibDems is rejected and I’ll be writing to Kent Police on that one. Civil servants are banned from standing in elections.

The Returning Officer and Police and Electoral Commission seem deeply flawed if not bone-idle for their salaries and pensions and expenses. I am astonished that while the candidates have to pay £500 to stand in a free and fair election, that clearly isn’t, the Returning Officer for the night gets a fee of £62k.

Yes you read that right a £62k fee to the council chief executive for election night.
No wonder the candidates are fined £500 for standing as citizens.

In Thanet it proved especially shambolic with boxes unopened at 7am and the District and town elections not even provided until Saturday. Sunderland managed all their results in a few hours – some 12 hours earlier.

My complaint against the Gazette for refusing candidates coverage and censoring my manifesto is with the Press regulator. No wonder we end up with the same old-same old if the reporting is so weak. While I asked Farage about the Manson and Thor manslaughter the press were asking if he’d have a drink to celebrate.

The wider point of electoral reform seems fair with both Greens and UKIP gaining millions of votes but few seats – and contribute to a revived UK politics with multiple parties rather than the declining influence and vote for the two main parties. Voting reform was another fumbled Libdem policy from a few years ago.

While in Kent Manston is something of a damp squib with the rejection of the Manston Party of only c.200 votes, the rejection of Farage as leader of UKIP and Wauchope in Thanet as Manston candidates, and a narrow Tory victory in South Thanet and Gale returned – the man who closed Manston at least twice.

The parachute candidates will undoubtedly – like Farage now angling for a Labour seat to stand in – disappear without a trace until the next election somewhere.

Maybe the Police Commissioner elections in November 2016 possibly London Mayor next year.
Who knows maybe parachuted in for the John O’Groats byelection.

While without answering the pollution and corruption issues around the removal of monitors of Manston – both under the Tory regime of turncoats such as Latchford and Wells now UKIP - and subsequently - it seems a farce of hot air and bluster to claw a few votes then sink without a trace.

Although the real threat from delayed contamination and cleanup continues: see Ed Targett’s excellent dirty water blogpost for full details on mercury poisoning etc here:

greentargett.com

Gloag plc have launched some laughable doodles about concreting Manston – although some of them do unearth the aquifer as a boating lake. Perhaps a paddling pool if it isn’t replenished.
The reality is Manston is bust, none of the staff that makeup SMA would be rehired anyway, the pollution records have been falsified by TDC and KCC, and the runway is on the aquifer.

It's a mess.

Only marginally improved by being closed, so there are just a few dumped jets and less chance of the gunrunners and banned planes crashing.

The only solution is to dig up the runway, demolish the buildings and retain the site as a water meadow to clean the aquifer – and as KCC Leader I will push with Messrs Carter/Musgrave and KCC’s £2BN budget and multi-million EU funds to fully develop the Pfizer site that has gone somewhat awry with non-science jobs and minor relocation and is still half-empty.

Major pharma companies specialising in pharma research and vaccines production and even production of malaria nets are required to define and grow the site for the future.

Returning the site to 6,000 well-paid jobs is not unreasonable as an absolute minimum.

And restoring Dreamland as a top 10 UK tourist attraction.

And restoring a niche foot passenger ferry at Ramsgate to Ostend and Boulogne.

And all along with more effective and rounded economic policies than just building a massive cargo airport to hire everybody in Thanet - or everyone working for the council.

The Parkway-airport-railway-station-without-an-airport is too laughable for words just KCC Big Cement glory projects again. Only in Thanet and Maidstone…with your tax…

Imagine if that £20M had been spent on the town centres.

UKIP TDC have an opportunity to act like responsible Thanet citizens rather than racists or the scum we have been used to and here are a few ideas to begin:

1. Have a contested leadership election with Chris Wells and others not a coronation and preferably a woman candidate too
2. Delay action on Manston until the PWC audit report in the next fortnight or so and then consider the points made
3. Cancel Pleasurama signed by the rejected Labour group – clear and turf the site for a consultation and cliff repairs within 6 months
4. Instigate Margate Town Council: the only East Kent town without one
5. Detail the Port and Motor Museum plans and repairs
6. Sack Grant Thornton and the Andy Mack rascal from the Audit Commission whitewash – review Property Eileen’s role and cancel the prosecution of Cllr Driver
7. Clarify the election rules for District and Town
8. Instruct a Police inquiry into tax haven Pleasurama and Thor mercury contamination – the Environment Agency and TDC seem to be deliberately whitewashing the figures
9. Reject the Gloag plc plans and detail fines due for overflights etc
10. Confirm filming of council meetings
11. Clarify EU funding and tourism/students and language school activity for Thanet
12. End garden grabbing such as the horrifying 100 South Eastern Road sprawl and car/dustcart parking on the seafront/promenade and dog muck/dogs on the beach

The latter a useful Ukip point but not really a national manifesto albeit alongside the tampon tax reduction and end live animal exports which are sensible.

With talented Cabinet members in Kent such as Clark and Fallon, and Crouch as Sports Minister, we have the strange situation in Thanet of a former UKIP Tory who lives in Chatham, and Farage from Orpington who won’t contest his hometown seat.

And resigns then unresigns in a weekend. Blink and you’d miss it.

Not very inspiring along with Wauchope from Tunbridge Wells and now rejected KCCers like Latchford and dozens of unknown elderly Ukippers that may not last another Winter let alone supposedly the formation of the biggest airport near Heathrow on the rates.

And a new TDC Chief Executive which I am already beginning to have Macgonigal-doubts about as pompous and ineffective and overpaid. I hope I’m quickly proved wrong.

All for one of the most deprived areas in UK – and an area that relies on tourists and EU funding eg the KCC Brussels plans for £100M in funding over the next 5 years.

Thanet is broken it’s time to fix it.

Time for Kent’s Orchid Spring.

Time for Garbutt in #KCCLeader2017.

Here are my initial policies:

1. East Kent Council with £1Bn funding as a counterweight to West Kent and Maidstone bias and gridlock

2. Toxic Three of Carter, King and Wild out and Infratil jailed. Bring the Bastards of NZ back in chains: Fitzgerald, Clark, Bogoievski and Baker

3. NZ trade boycott of tourism, airline, cheese, wine and sheep until Infratil are extradited – the Kiwi Criminals can kill Maoris but not Kent’s citizens

4. Police investigation into Thor and Poorhole Lane mercury sites and closure of MOD Fire bloat and waste and contamination

5. Cancel KCC Tobacco shares in public sector pensions: a farce in being responsible for Public health and investing in Marlboro

6. Cancel Kent Developer Group: cementiers on the rates for white elephant tarmac. Sudan not Sittingbourne needs Cape2Cairo Roads and ASEANRail and revitalise Virginia and Hungary links

7. Refund the Parkway £20M to Dept of Transport and cancel HMS Kent suntan tours

8. Cancel Top Temps: staffing up on the rates

9. Create Kent Top 200 global university with Kent Uni and instigate tourism focus at Broadstairs CCU campus with Asian Studies courses and languages and end Beckham Studies courses for Cancer, Flu, Dementia, Antibiotics and Pandemics research Chairs

10. Develop annual Dunkirk, Waterloo, Spanish Armada and Channel Dash celebrations – and VJDay2015

11. Reduce 1.99% referendum limit to voluntary 0.99% limit with details and review KCC £100k salaries: most in UK

12. Create dry-run votes at 16 in schools and £10k election fund for obscene free election failure of £500 and £5k costs and electoral reform eg ban parachute candidates and co-opted and politician exams and manifestos

13. Consult on UNDMG2 and 2016 UN SecretaryGeneral election

14. Fisheries: reseeding oceans

15. Merge Kent Police with Sussex and Surrey police - and Firebrigade takeover of Coastguard to reduce bloat and waste

16. Reduce tobacco in prisons to one brand and introduce store permits for tobacco and end smoking at outdoor pub/cafe tables

17. Full routine FOI each month and detail any (few)FOI requests refused

18. Kent off oil: solar farms, close Dungeness early, and all public sector buildings solar and electric vehicles

19. 0.3% of KCC £2Bn tax as aid and international activity (c.£20M): if all 33 UK councils follow suit then UK would easily achieve 1% in aid along with Benelux etc and be a beacon for all EU nations to achieve 0.7% aid

20. Ban conflict minerals in all public sector IT equipment etc and a blood diamonds certification scheme for jewellers and close Lydd and Ostend gunrunner airports

21. Ban plastic bags and supermarket food waste reduced and donated to foodbanks and pigfarms and reduce aviation produce

22. Zero Road Deaths: zero booze, 20mph towns and traffic blackspot repairs

23. I’d like to create EK Film Office in Ramsgate and EK Film studio linked to Dreamland and Paramount and also take on the Pavilion as a jazz bar/venue

24. University/college space research: food and space elevator and satellite tech

25. Drug dens raid every day: drugs seizures detailed and machete amnesty

26. Rape Nation prosecutions: 85k rapes and only 1k jailed

27. Learmonths Learjet: 1k UK citizens jailed abroad/stranded eg Joshua French 6 years on Death Row Congo – and detailed on UK Embassies with monthly visits

28. Argos catalogue for police pretty trousers and bullets

29. CPS, Courts and Lawyer reform: corruption such as Glick QC or Broadstairs rape letter lawyer whitewashed by Law Society – who was that?

30. Prisoners: beachclean

31. Cliffs xray/sonar and aerial landmine xray and SS Richard Montgomery cleanup

32. Youth Fund: develop post-16 entrepreneur projects eg Creative Industries - fashion, software, programming, pharma-vaccines, graphene, robotics, electrofarms and DNA plus compulsory Gap Year etc. Younger, Cleaner and Greener Kent. The dockyards and farmyards and coalfields are gone

33. Asbestos cleanup in schools – County register of sites

The previous policies still stand as detailed at www.votegarbutt.co.uk

Time for KCC leader election 2017.

Office, volunteers, staff and donations wanted.

Time for Change
www.votegarbutt.co.uk
@timg33

Tim’s Titbits: various random points:

• fascinating Dunkirk book on the 500 Little Ships from Ramsgate and Germany’s My Lai massacres at Wormhout (Sergeant Moore and SgtMajor Jennings both threw themselves on grenades to protect their friends and neither received the VC), Vinkt and Le Paradis – major museum needed and Vimy 2017 with Ramsgate’s Canadians
• US Nukes General highlights how USA could manage with 900 nukes and only half of those deployed instead of 11,000(!). UK has 180 nukes like most nuclear nations except USA and Russia. Utter waste and danger of Nuclear Winter accidents and submarine arms races in Asia.
• USA museum returns another stolen statue to Cambodia. British Museum doesn’t.
• Operation Masterdom anniversary in September and Magellan 2019 underway.
• Shan State heroin 2nd biggest illegal supplier to UK after Afghanistan: 1.5M(!) amphetamine tablets seized at Laos border
• VE Day and Doodlebug Day ignored by the pensioners in Frontline Kent
• Unimpressed with Visit Kent and Visit Thanet websites or tourism cronies with Shepherd Neame, and KCC website appalling
• Thailand WW1: 950 troops with 19 killed and 2 officers recommended for Croix de Guerre – fascinating to know who/where etc
• DaNang University and UKTIAnnam: Vinh to Vientiane
• Gibraltar and Brindisi bridges link to Desertec and Balkans/Sarajevo Shift seem viable
• Sincerity: bank or insurance client wanted: www.sincerityagency.com
• Surin Charity: Thailand swimming pool expert wanted and Africa locations: www.surinschoolcharity.org
• Great British Women’s Footy begins in Canada: 999 Cup defunct?
• Baku European Games soon and Liberation Route Europe Gdansk launch took place on VE Day
• Kwai Rail: Thailand Anzac day celebrated at amazing Hellfire Pass museum
• KORA and 2LB launch soon.