TIME FOR AN ELECTED MAYOR IS OVERDUE

Goodness me! The blue-touchpaper has been set alight and the abusive invective has begun against Malcolm Kirkaldie over on ECR!

I think this scheme to ask the people of Thanet if they would like to elect a Mayor is marvellous. I think it is fair to say that the present governance of the Isle by 'Mauwice', 'Woger'and senior officers, makes TDC in its present form, the most un-popular Council in the land.

Many had hoped that the Tory majority would have realised this last year and 'ousted' the Leadership and cabinet. Having dismally failed to 'reform', the Tory Group should not be surprised that a move to a Mayoral referendum might be perceived by many voters in Thanet(Labour and Tory alike) as the only way of changing the disastrous situation that now exists in Thanet with its 'failed' leaders and 'failed' policies.

The Thanet electorate has seen the decline of its 3 main towns brought about by the Westwood Cross fiasco, that could and should have been prevented. To enter a disastrous recession in such poor shape after 10 'boom' years is a serious failure of both Tory and Labour management of our local affairs. Have no doubt that the ravaged High Streets will look even worse by Easter.

Maybe, just maybe, if the Electorate support a Mayoral referendum, a candidate of calibre and integrity and without 'petty political allegiances' will come forward with a better CV than experience as a carpet fitter or a retired miltary blanket stacker.

We need a change and if a Mayor can achieve it, then I for one will be out canvassing for a Referendum.

6000 -7000 signatures on a petition will not be hard to find I suspect.

A BAD CASE OF CRABS

I had difficulty this evening in deciding what to comment on from local Thanet news that was reported whilst 'Strife' was down. Unlike Ms Wenham-Jones, I am delighted that the closed Woolies premises in Broadstairs might be opened again as an Iceland outlet; its good for the High Street and will offer much needed jobs. Was I the only one to be annoyed by the the pompous tone in her article in the Gazunder last week?

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Time to get on topic! The picture above is courtesy of Martin Thain and KM Extra. It shows just a few hundred of the thousands of Velvet Swimming Crabs washed up on Thanet beaches after the recent cold spell. Macropipus puber is a shallow water crab that has a poor tolerance of low temperatures and does not survive for long out of water, despite being an aggressive 'wee beastie' as those who have been nipped by it will remember.

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A drop in coastal water temperature during the cold spell probably induced a simple state of 'crustacean hypothermia' and in a semi-comatose state, these crabs were unable to hang on securely when rough water dislodged them from their nooks and crannies in underwater chalk/rock outcrops. The result sadly seems to have been a mass beaching in cold air and death would have come on quickly. I suspect the Environmental Agency will find no pollution cause or odd virus for this phenomenon.

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What should be of more concern to us is the situation in Pegwell Bay where we have seen a wipe out of mussel beds and a decline in both the size and vigour of the lugworm population. There is clear evidence of pollution in this very sensitive site that has a number of extraordinary outlets depositing possibly contaminated water into the bay. The Environment Agency need to monitor this situation more closely perhaps with TDC and KCC?

BERTIE'S BACK AT LAST!

Bertie has been experiencing technical problems since 'filing' the Tesco Bag Chronicles and wonders if he has been 'nobbled' in some way?

The probability is that a technical 'glitch' in a 'wireless' box may have been the cause but why it has taken so long to rectify and sort out does concern me.

My apologies for not being able to moderate past comments and when I have looked through a few hundred e-mails awaiting my attention, I hope to resume normal postings and catch up with issues such as:

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Has anyone seen Cllr Broadhurst since October 9th?

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Is the new Westgate 'Chippie' really now behaving itself with its rubbish?

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Is it true that 'Our Leader' intends to sail off into the sunset in March?

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Is it true that CGP's shares are now worth so little that the DT description on 12th Jan of the Aim Market now fits them? " What you've got basically are the living dead at the bottom of the market".

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Did the fence contractor at Pouces Cottages not get paid after all and was it he who removed the nice paddock fencing?

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Has anyone cracked TDC's street cleaning colour code yet or has actually seen a TDC cleaner in their road? (At the Biggles hovel, we have taken to cleaning the street ourselves as a cleaner is as rare as Dinosaur sh*t.)

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Will Ursuline College in Westgate have any money to meet the planning condition set by KCC in 2004 in regard to its Sports Hall, to put a turning lane on The Canterbury Road, by its entrance? It would seem KCC Planning is getting fed up with waiting for this to happen.

"THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER?"

I couldn't resist this cartoon, courtesy of The Daily Telegraph on Saturday. Could Iapologise for not moderating comments in the past 24 hrs. My internet provider let me down yet again whilst I was in the middle of this post. You can read it now. (Could anyone tell me what a PPP server fault is?)
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Bertie has been reading everything he can about the 'world of finance' to try and understand what the problem is all about and it seems simply to be a horrible cycle of greed induced, debt. Gordon Brown failed dismally on The Andrew Marr Show this morning to admit any responsibility for the state this country is in despite holding the office of Chancellor for 10 years. All he could do was blame the US and the world financial storm and try and convince viewers that we in the UK are better placed than most to ride out the 'storm' under his careful hand on the tiller.
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It would appear that it's not just the UK private citizen who has been living on credit and amassing debt with savings ratios down from 10% in 1997 to 0.4% in 2008, but many of our big 'blue-chip' businesses have a debt problem too.
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It would seem that £85 billion of debts are due to be re-paid in 2009 together with £25 billion in re-paying corporate bonds. The effect on some companies will be as cataclysmic as a family finding that the main income earner has lost his/her job whilst having a large mortgage and mountain of plastic debt to 'service'. How many households will end up in 'personal bankruptcy' and homelessness and how many firms will find they are going to go to the wall.?
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This whole business seems like a snowball gathering momentum down a slope and each rotation adds to the problem as it gets bigger and bigger until it becomes an avalanche.
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I personally think the Government should not even attempt to prop up ailing businesses or squander money creating/inventing 100,000 public sector jobs. It is the nature of capitalism that there is risk and the price of failure has to be paid.
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What Government could do very effectively is add some extra strands to the benefit system to protect and support the 'innocents' caught up in the economic mess. For example, families with children should not be thrown onto the street through repossession to then need re-housing by the Local Authority. It would make more sense for the house to be taken over as 'social housing'; the family kept in it and then pay rent through our generous Benefits System or some other way that will provide a sensible and cost effective safety net. Those without children and those who have bought to rent will just have to take the pain as those with savings will have to.
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I am afraid I have no confidence in Mr Brown any more. Propping up banks to prevent a collapse of the banking system is fine but all the other proposals at the moment seem ineffective and costly.
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I have been told that Debenhams at Westwood Cross was looking like an empty warehouse at the weekend; Debenhams directors are reported as having to go seeking finance in the next few weeks by possibly selling shares to reduce debt problems incurred in 2006. Our own CGP has to repay £28.5 million to the Israel Discount Bank in November and with a share price less than 20p, it is not looking good unless it can re-arrange its debt or 'The Chinese' come to the rescue in time.

May your God go with you in the troubled times that await us all.

THE LOSS OF FELINE DIGNITY

Not the best time of year for a Persian Cat to have a shave but a matted, ungroomed coat needs drastic action as this stray discovered.

If you can think of a good caption, please feel free to add it.

On a serious note, I begin to understand those who oppose the pedigree dog business at Crufts. This cat needs constant grooming and if abandoned soon gets into trouble; not because it cannot scavange but simply because its unnaturally long and fine coat becomes matted, dirt encrusted and in warmer weather, fly-blown. Specialist breeding has certainly produced some fine looking breeds of cats and dogs but at what cost in animal welfare?

MORE JOIN THE UNEMPLOYED

My thanks to these 4 ladies at Woolworths in Northdown Road for posing for this picture yesterday. Between them they have 28 years of service to Woolworths and this was their last day of employment. They were unclear about payment of wages and redundancy payment. It brought it home to me that when big business and banks get greedy and throw caution and integrity out of the window, it's the least well off who suffer the most for such folly.
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Altogether, 16 staff have lost their jobs at this store and in Thanet over 70 families have been hit by the closure of all 4 stores. This is just another nail in the coffin of what was once a thriving shopping road.
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What I find fascinating in Northdown Road is that one or two unlikely businesses are still managing to hang on and it would seem that this is because the free-hold is owned; reserves from better times were not squandered and whilst profits are down, cost-cutting and belt-tightening is the order of the day. Is it true that the Woolworths chain sold its shops some years ago and then leased them back? Was earlier greed the cause of its present demise?

TOY TOWN - THE TESCO BAG CHRONICLES (Epilogue)

It was New Year's Eve and Dennis was amazed to hear the bad language emanating from Larry's Den. He popped his head around the door and ducked quickly as an Orange Wireless box whistled past his head.

"The ba-aally Orange Internet has gone down" Larry cursed.

"Don't worry " replied Dennis, " We can still look back on 2008 and here's a glass of single malt to calm you down."

"I'm rather glad The Serious Economic Crimes Unit did not find graft and corruption in Toytown, though the way the Townhall works needs to be looked at." said Dennis.

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"I am still not happy about the business of Ernest The Stout Policeman going round and 'leaning' on Councillors, though" replied Larry. "It had a touch of ' The Damian Green Affair' about it, even though Inspector Bloodhound has finished his enquiries into what Ernest was up to and confirmed there was nothing un-toward and that Ernest was just following up information. He seemed quite adament on 31 July that there was no investigation going on, and even Det Sgt Upaton returned to copy the message about Ernest into his notebook."

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Larry paused for a moment. " Anyway, with some luck, that's the end of the matter and the Tesco Bag has at last got back to Bosun Bob. Captain Brass has at least bought him a 'paper shredder' but why Bosun Bob and the Pirates have got involved in fencing pastures when a perfectly good fences exist already, beats me."

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"Larry, you have forgotten about Inches The Grass Snake waiting on our door-step, when we got back from Ibiza. Mr Mayor or The Bumbling Magiician must have told him about us or could it have been Mr Owl?" Dennis said.

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"It doesn't ma-aatter now, Dennis," said Larry, as he topped up his glass from the decanter.

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"Di --idn't the Society of Toytown Bloggers do a good job and The 'China Gate' story in the Toytown Gazunder certainly raised the profile of what Commerce General Property were upto. The Private Eye articles also helped enormously. What was the high point of the year for you De--ennis?"

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"Oh, that's easy to answer", said Dennis. "The look of sudden realisation, on 'Our Ken's' face as he put up his hand to vote at The Planning Committtee meeting in August, that he could not deliver the expected approval of ' China gate' due to three of Mr Mayor's Party having scruples and voting that it should go to Full Council.!"

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"I ree---eember that!", said Larry. " Seeing people rushing to mobile phones and ringing Mr Mayor on his yacht with the news was also interesting. The unseemly panic and haste that followed in The Town Hall, as 29th Aug, then 9th September were mooted as Full Council meetings was very revealing. Anyway, the 9th October was quite rightly settled for! Do you think it was true that Mr Ma--ayor called those Councillors in for a telling off? He ssshouldn't have done cos Planning ish ment to be non partishan. Could you top me up, Dennish?"

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"But, The Toytown Councillors approved Captain Brass' application on the 9th October, Larry, so we lost in the end didn't we?"

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"Nooo way, Dennish", mumbled Larry, " chop my grass up again, woulg you pleesh. Weeceshion in 2009; shinking sips or is it sshares; shirty planning condishhuns and who knows what else; revolushion in The Town Hall and even that Waitrose ba-aag under the shtairs to look into ........"

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"Happy New Year, Larry" Dennis whispered as he took the empty glass out of Larry's limp trotter and covered the snoring Lamb with a blanket.

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'What Waitrose bag?', he thought as he scratched behind his ear at an uninvited New Year guest.