Manston spirals downwards and GarbuttMP2020 points

Garbutt draft KCC Leader 2017 and MP 2020 manifesto out for consultation and a few points in more detail below:

1. Lebanon: women’s rights tweak – illegal for a woman to vote unless she's completed elementary education. Doesn’t apply to men. A minor gender equality tweak though as both sexes c.94% complete elementary education. Nevertheless gender discrimination given all Saudi women can now vote. Only UAE and Brunei have equal opportunities of not allowing anyone to vote(!).

2. EU vote at 16: #whennotif the EU introduces a universal vote at 16. How can territories such as Jersey or various German regions or nations such as Scotland and Austria allow vote at 16 but not elsewhere? Wasn’t a key point of the EU to introduce consistent standards?

3. UK elections exams: politicians are the only public sector workers without exams. Elected then 5 years of fixed term power. Kent has politicians that can barely read or write. A simple multichoice exam on various political points should be introduced. While a minimum and maximum age for such roles say 30 and 80 should be introduced as well as fixed terms.

4. Royals and Military Oath: abolish the loyalty oath of the military to the royals and replace with to parliament and the public. A 17th century leftover.

5. End Dictators: one of the greatest threats to UK eg Saddam, Gadaffi etc. End the last 5 African dictators with fixed terms and no extensions eg Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Zimbabwe etc.

6. UN Secretary-General: clear election procedure and public and UN Assembly choice rubberstamped by Security Council. No more Buggins Turn empty symbolism and secret rotas of tame officials: an East European this year or a woman next year. Maybe both at once to solve a non-existent problem. Closed shop discrimination.

7. Nuclear disarmament: the only WMD not limited. Reduce stockpiles to under 1,000 for USA and Russia and under 50 for existing nuclear nations with roadmap to zero.

8. Rabies: 70,000 deaths every year mainly in India nb the global death rate is 0.88% pa: c.54m deaths – and 90% of those could be reduced with existing infant care eg measles vaccinations etc. Why should UK have twice the infant death rate than Sweden for example?

9. G20 Third World aid: roadmap to 0.7% GNI aid budgets nb the EU spends more on dog food than the global Third World aid budget.

10. #GlobalGoals: now launched and ratified 1stjanuary 2016 to achieve zero poverty etc by 2030. Not one Kent public sector organisation as yet signs up. Road accidents to be halved etc but Tobacco Framework feeble. Strangely no mention of a unified Space Programme for 2030.

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

Tim’s Titbits: Misc points:

A. Predictive policing: Kent Police’s Mystic Meg policing experiment results in…an 11% increase(!) in crime according to The Economist last week. Who would have seen that coming? Yet strangely Kent Police seems to be hailing this as a great success and the basis for more research. More later and details of Kent Police Panto and 007 review…

B. Worth noting the excellent Kent Police drug den raids in Operation Jupiter: a drugs den raid every day, and Knife Amnesty 2016.

C. Kent Tourism silent on James Bond/Fleming Trail given the launch of Spectre after Skyfall the biggest Bond and British move ever. Shocking. Positively shocking.

D. Ann Barnes yet again with over a year(!) for CPS/Police/PCC/KCC and Uncle Tom Cobley and all to investigate a minor insurance car prang. The Yoof Tsars and DaftAnnVan mobile police stations twaddle. What an utter, utter waste of time and money. 2016 Police election in May.

E. Silence from FOI Finchy and the Kent Fire Brigade £1M fire station on the rates. Interesting too with the Jack Straw review on the effectiveness of UK FOI. I’ve never understood how having the EU EIR provides FOI yet the UK introduces its own law – with numerous (possible) exemptions. The British Disease of Secrecy.

F. Silence on the Broadstairs rape lawyer.

G. Silence on Gale MP being sued by the council for criticising the council.

H. Just awful Vagina Added Tax: bizarre VAT charge on tampons www.bloodydisgrace.org not instantly rectified as a medical or public health issue and even available on prescription like condoms or the pill

I. Manston: Freudmann offers sweeties and a pony to the Carter and the councillors with holidays to Torremolinos for a cargo airport on the rates. Just like EUJet then… And never mention the missing monitors and 4x EU safe cancer levels. But nothing else done in 6 months. Nothing. No TDC or KCC activity at all. Nothing. Only fake election promises and another dance around ignoring the aquifer.

J. Silence on Discovery park and pharma/science jobs.

K. Silence on the bizarre slipways building at the only(?) Royal Harbour in UK if not the world: first a restaurant then a Hornby thingummy. A bungalow in search of a reason on the rates.

L. Silence on Button and Sproates at TDC the Manston pollution clerks.

M. Silence on the aquifer pollution and Thor mercury contamination.

N. Silence on the BVI tax haven Pleasurama reshuffle and fake Wetherspoons Pav consultation.

O. Litter Police: £50k to the contractor and c.£3k to TDC? Why aren’t the normal police handing out tickets or council staff on an afternoon rota?

P. Silence on the £12M shortfall and council tax strike requiring more budget cuts. Who would you sack at TDC?

Q. Silence on 100 SE Rd gardengrabbing: bizarre planning permission approved despite being repeatedly rejected excuse. And Daniel Gent Construction carbuncle.

R. Grabbin’ Grabiner speaks: Lord Grabiner, the head of the GlickGate fraud firm One Essex Court finally speaks in the Lords – silent all this year – to resign the Tory whip (amend: it was the Labour whip but how would you know?). But still silent on why as a Lord he was charging hundreds of thousands of pounds for chairing a Bank of England review of the LIBOR fraud – and heavily criticised by Parliament for a feeble report. Silent on GlickGate of course with hatches battened down to avoid explaining Glick’s review and the Ali Bongo barrister Hollingworth providing fraudulent invoices to High Court – but refusing to do so to BSB. Silence. More time as a director at Wentworth the £125k entry-fee golf course, advising Parliament on tax(!) or director of Lincoln’s Inn selecting barristers for the High Court closed shop…no doubt.

S. On the tax point I don’t understand how barristers employed in a barrister company are described and taxed as self-employed? Do you? Even LLP lawyers aren’t classed as self-employed?

T. Silence on Judge Smith’s missing underpants. Dread nought he says in the Smithy Code - although it seems to have come out as Fister not Fisher(!). Although it is the Royal Navy. The underpants must be found – even if the CEO of BA is arrested and jailed and brought to High Court on the rates. 100 High Court judges seems about 80 too many.

U. Red Meat and Sugar Tax cancer etc: feeble UK food safety standards and delays for #whennotif reform.

V. COP12 Climate Change in November in Paris: talking shop of inaction. Why has every public sector office not switched to solar or wind electricity? A simple and quick and cheap no-brainer. A UK lead potential too in a Climate Parliament of Mayors of smaller towns beyond Big City Bloomberg initiatives etc eg Kirklees rather than New York etc.

W. NemoLink Planning permission for cables through Pegwell Bay the SSSI and Ramsar UNESCO site. Surely the whole point of such designations is that they are meant to simply avoid such construction work? Silence on burying the pylons too. More to follow.

X. Redcar SSI/Scunthorpe/Motherwell UK steel industry etc: how foolish to allow the destruction of the UK steel industry with the growth of hispeed rail and UK car industry – State Aid twaddle given the German government for example actively funds say Volkswagen and China’s State steel industry has been illegally dumping cutprice steel for years. Northern Powerhouse and Maker’s Britain falls at the first hurdle.

Y. Payday Loans reforms underway but Victorian Living Wage reforms weak: credit to Aldi introducing the 2020 Living Wage of c.£9ph already(!). More reasons to shop at Aldi!

Z. KORA and 2LB and EKFOS nearly ready.

Tim’s Bits: some personal bits and bobs of mine:

1. Looking for university lecturer role at Kent Uni, CCU, or LSE or Thammasat: advertising/business studies. Anyone know of anything?
2. DVD or online shop link for Contraband movie set in WW2 Ramsgate.
3. Insurance company client wanted: www.sincerityagency.co.uk
4. Volunteers wanted: charity tenders www.surinschoolcharity.org nb weblink changing in the next day or so.
5. Kent’s apples and orchards. Anyone know?