Not good news here I am sorry to say it
looks as though this service has floundered.
News, Local history and Thanet issues from Michael's Bookshop in Ramsgate see www.michaelsbookshop.com I publish over 200 books about the history of this area click here to look at them.
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Euroferries Boulogne Ramsgate ferry service update
48 comments:
Comments, since I started writing this blog in 2007 the way the internet works has changed a lot, comments and dialogue here were once viable in an open and anonymous sense. Now if you comment here I will only allow the comment if it seems to make sense and be related to what the post is about. I link the majority of my posts to the main local Facebook groups and to my Facebook account, “Michael Child” I guess the main Ramsgate Facebook group is We Love Ramsgate. For the most part the comments and dialogue related to the posts here goes on there. As for the rest of it, well this blog handles images better than Facebook, which is why I don’t post directly to my Facebook account, although if I take a lot of photos I am so lazy that I paste them directly from my camera card to my bookshop website and put a link on this blog.
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No surprise here, this has been a pipe dream for several years now, Euroferries appears to be little more than the figment of someones imagination, probably being run from a bedsit.
ReplyDeleteRather like SFP in this respect.
DeleteI certainly cee that use is very correct in yor asesments of the situashun. How evar won wud not no if the parties orl agree, sew my sugesjun wud to leeve it at the stais kwoo. As fer sfp I wuds recomned thet u uze wd40 az its duz a betta job.
Deletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2292995/The-party-stooge-planted-Labour-Question-Time-Complaints-diehard-supporter-attacks-UKIP-panellist-debate-show.html
ReplyDeleteThis is about Amy Rutland who launched a gratuitous but typical vitriolic attack on her opponent on BBC Question Time.
Amy Rutland lives in Margate. Some would agree with her political views. But why the hatred for her opponent who Rutland describes as disgusting?
Amy Rutland a product of Thanet filled with pointless hatred for anyone who has the temerity to disagree with her. But she is very young and with luck she may grow up to be a nicer person.
Meanwhile Amy Rutland demonstrate once again that it's always those who preach 'diversity and equality' loudest who are the most vindictive and intolerant bigots imaginable.
Perhaps that same capacity for screwed up face hatred and vitriolic abuse, much beloved of the left, as described by John above, could also explain why there is no Ramsgate to Boulogne ferry. As an operator seeking to attract passengers, would you choose a port where a mob regularly gathers to shout abuse at passing lorries, attempts to push by police officers and beat on the sides of vehicles all egged on by a fat man with a megaphone. Hardly condusive to good business.
DeleteTom
DeleteSorry. As one involved in the ferry business in Dover let me disabuse you, and all the other readers, of the notion that a Ramsgate to Boulogne ferry service is ever going to be viable. The operators in Dover are struggling to fill their ships as it is, since the French-owned Eurotunnel have decided to drive all competition out of the short sea corridor. They already effectively own MyFerryLink, the successor to SeaFrance and are bidding to take control of the ports of Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk. They would also have succeeded in their attempt to take control of the port of Dover if the privatisation had not been stopped. To further increase their share of the market Eurotunnel/MFL have dropped their prices to rock-bottom - neither company has a profit motive at the moment so this is only hurting their competitors.
The Euroferries plan was only ever a pipe dream. Why would anyone want to take four hours on a conventional ferry (or about 90 minutes on a fast craft) to go to Boulogne from Ramsgate when they could do it in not a lot longer from Dover, and with a far greater choice of sailings than the one Euroferries ship could offer. Speed Ferries found this out in Dover; a single-ship operation is doomed to failure.
Of course, if you prefer John Hamilton, (or was it Tom Clarke?), you can ignore someone who is involved in the ferry business and carry on believing that it's all Ian Driver's fault.
I will accept what you say, assuming your claimed expertise is correct, but, for the record, I am not John Hamilton. Nonetheless, it can hardly be condusive to any trade at Ramsgate to have these demonstrations and I would dispute what good they do.
DeleteTo bring about change either the UK government has to withdraw from the EU so it can make its own laws or Brussels has to be persuaded that live animal exports are cruel and should be stopped. Hence the lobbying should be in Westminster or Brussels, not Ramsgate. All that happens in Ramsgate is that already frightenmed animals are further discomforted by the noisy mob and the beating on the sides of trucks.
The trade is currently legal and the lorry drivers are just doing their job. Direct the protest where it might do some good and not at the animasls or truckers.
It's not just live exports around here. Before I settled down I used to work what we call "deep-sea". For a while I worked in and around Saudi Arabia, principally around the port of Jiddah. That port was the terminus of a particularly unpleasant trade in live sheep from Australia, being imported to Saudi Arabia for ritual sacrifice. Now, as you probably know, the Moslem calendar is lunar-based, so their festivals move forward through the Gregorian calendar that we use. During the time in question, Eid al Adha was in June so these poor animals were being transported in badly ventilated converted bulk carriers, often at sea for three weeks. You can imagine what the Red Sea was like in June. You knew where one of these ships had been by the trail of bloated sheep corpses floating in the Red Sea as you transited it on your way to Bab el Mandeb and the Indian Ocean.
DeleteFat man with a megaphone - don't try and treat us like morons, you've used the expression before, linked on those occasions with Cllr Driver. We know who you meant
DeleteAnd the point is 1:23? Are you suggesting Cllr Driver and followers should take their protest to Saudi Arabia? Now that is something I would love to see.
DeleteMost women are to you, Peter, and, of course, some men.
DeletePeter,
DeleteThis is praise indeed coming from you bearing in mind that she is fully clothed.
Cuteness is in the eye of the beholder, therefore cute she may be, but certainly not astute.
I've just looked at the Daily Mail item. Sorry Peter, she's not cute; she's your standard Fannit overweight, badly dressed young woman. And of course, overflowing with life experience; if she wasn't working for the Labour Party she'd undoubtedly be on JSA and moaning about the lack of job opportunities for graduates under this wicked Coalition government. Lives at home with mum and, having launched a vicious attack on a political opponent who had the temerity to come second above Labour in a by-election, then claims that she's very upset. Poor lamb. Doubtless Iris will be shoe-horning her into local politics within the next couple of years.
DeleteI'm sure you could. Not sure if the rest of us would want to see the result though. ;))
DeletePrecisely, Peter
Delete[3:33pm]
How did I get dragged into this? Though for the record, I agree with Tom, the silly fat man with the megaphone is as good for Thanet as the Black Plague was for tourism in London.
DeleteShows how much you know Anonymous March 14, 2013 11:25 am
Deletehttp://www.euroferries.co.uk/index.htm
You may not be John Hamilton, Clarke - who knows or cares - but you are a frequent, and often the sole, commentator on his rather unpleasant blog. A blog the sole purpose of which seems to be to slander Driver. You clearly share much ideology with him. And given your rather puerile and (for you) typically offensive reference to Driver here, it is not surprising that you might be confused for Hamilton.
ReplyDeleteYou have often lambasted others for hijacking or subverting the subject of posts yet here are you and your crony Holyer doing just that. As ever, you ignore facts in your seperate quest to spill your bile over the political left. There have been animal welfare protests at Dover on many occasions, which undermines your assertion that they lie behind the lack of development at Ramsgate. Equally, there have been frequent promises of enhanced services at Ramsgate over several years, none of which have borne fruit - even when animal welfare protests have been nowehere to be seen.
But if you and Holyer would rather get excited together over the latest Daily Mail story, fine. But do it quietly and out of sight of decent people.
As you hide behind your anonymous label I feel you have no cause to questioin the names of others or accuse them of being someone they are not. As to my earlier post, which was about the Ramsgate port and a possible reason for it not attracting business, I made no reference to Cllr Driver. If a description happened to fit then that is your assumption, not mine.
DeleteNeedless to say, you are simply about attacking on a personality basis, something you seek to criticise in others, but you make no attempt to respond to my assertion that the demonstrations add to the discomfort of the unfortunate animals and are at the wrong location. This would tend to suggest, as I suspect, that these are more about individual profile raising than any real animal welfare concerns.
Anonymouse 12:32,
DeleteYou have ably proved my point. Your comment on my Amy Rutland post is not a reasoned argument. It is merely a hodgepodge of wishy washy and trite rudeness. Presumably you are from the political left. More fool you.
Presumably you consider yourself to be one of the 'decent people' out of whose sight you instruct me to get. You are being silly.
You demonstrate once again that it's always those who preach 'diversity and equality' loudest who are the most vindictive and intolerant bigots imaginable.
Excuse me butting in, but if John Hamilton's site exists soley to slander Ian Driver why doesn't he sue. He seems to use every other opportunity going to get his name up in lights somewhere.
DeleteI would just like to add that I do accept that some from the political left can also be intelligent, reasonable, fair minded and polite. However, Anonymouse 12:32 and the likes of Amy Rutland do the Labour Party a disservice and lose them votes.
DeleteIs it actually possible to slander a clown such as Driver?
DeleteMy blog is for issues I believe are important to further Thanet's regeneration. The fact that Driver jumps on any populist bandwagon means that the daft dishonest clown will feature in my comments on a regular basis. That and the low quality of his daubings lead him to become no more than a figure of ridicule.
A point well made re ms Rutland Mr Holyer, couldn;t agree more!
Anon, when you post as something other than anon, I maybe impressed, till then, you simply attract the same ridicule as Driver and his pet monkey, Tongue.
Peter, in fairness to John Hamilton, are the cllrs he has focussed on so far anti-Tory or just anti. One, Worrow, was a Tory, until he threw his toys out of the pram when he did not get a cabinet post, whilst Driver is equally anti-Labour and just about anything else you care to name. Furthermore, in his last posting, John H has commented on someone I have not even heard of before, other than as an occassional blogger.
DeleteTim, on your comment that you wondered about the frequency of mine on John H's site. First point is that he only allows comment from account holders so that gets rid all the mass of anonymous contributions making those of us that do more isolated. Secondly, I comment most frequently on this site but, last time I looked, I was definitely not Michael Childs.
Seems there are a number of people who don't care who somebody else is. If they don't care why do they bother to mention the fact?
Deleteanonymouse 10:04 am,
DeleteCan I have a translation, please?
John, 12:32 comments "John Hamilton/Clarke whoever you are, who cares" and Peter Checksfield comments "John Hamilton, I don't know who you are and don't care." If they don't care why do they bother to say so. Just thought it rather weird that's all so nothing to translate.
DeletePeter your 9:13am
DeleteYou are of course your own best judge of what is the correct thing to do. Personally, I have always found it wise not to take a party political stance on the crimes committed by opposition politicians. After all one never knows when the old bill might come knocking on the door of someone from your own political tribe.
anonymous 10:45 am
DeleteThank you.I take your point.
Peter, I think that Tom already pointed out to you that I only have issues with dishonest BS'ers such as Driver, those who get elected dishonestly flying a flag they have no interest in as they know that without that flag, they are simply a one issue whining fool, as un electable Fred West (wonder how long before I get accused of being homophobic..), and fools who make nothing claims about subjects on which they have simply no knowledge.
DeleteI shall also be commenting on Thanet issues as they arise, but as the brothers dishonest Driver and Worrow, along with their thier little pet Christine (I make 5th rate home movies and wish that commiunism made sense) Tongue tend to pop up where ever a media outlet may give them what they crave, publicity, I suspect thier daubings and comedy posts will continue to feature in my comments. :-)
PS Peter Checksfield, My name is just above this post, I would hope that your future posts are more accurate and indeed you are able to recognise a name when it's posted ;-)
DeleteI have to admit I was beginning to wonder at the frequency with which Tom pops up on the odious Mr Hamilton's blog. However, he says that they are not the same person so we must let it rest at that.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 1125 has hit the nail right on the head. The days of a cheap day out in France are over. Duty free died over a decade ago and when all shipping companies in NW Europe are forced by the tree-huggers to use diesel rather than the low sulphur residual fuel they are using at the moment the prices can only rise. As an aside, no-one has explained where all this diesel is coming from - there is only so much you can extract from a barrel of crude - and no-one has yet started to point out to the average EU housewife just how much this is going to cost them in the supermarket.
Apart from the last sentence in his comment, which was unnecessary, I don't think 1232 was too wide of the mark either. Not totally sure I understand how a comment about BBC Question Time was relevant to a post about the non-arrival of a ferry service.
Tim,
DeleteYour final paragraph: come on Tim, surely you are not going to insist that our comments should always sail a perfectly straight course. The discourse on this blog has always trailed a wake which meanders all over the place.
1232 was John Worrow. Read his twitter to see what percentage of his tweets are anti-Tory just because the party under whose banner he was elected would not give him the high office he thinks he warrants. Then he throws his toys out of the pram and embarks on a destroy the Tories campaign.
Delete1232 can't have been JW. No capital letters, full stops at the ends of sentences, employs quite a large vocabulary and writes grammatical English.
DeleteTake a look at anon 1:29 then, Tim, no full stop!
DeleteTim, and indeed anyone else with half a brain, will be able to tell instantly that the above post does not in truth come from me.
DeleteThis brain dead troll repeats my words. Yet I doubt if can he understand them, especially those with more than one syllable. But no doubt his post excites him.
Please refer to my post above: Michael has now chucked the creep's post into
Deletethe cesspit from whence it crawled.
John among the various problems with comments at the moment I have one commentator who copies other people’s comments and chunks of local history, sometimes adding obscenities and sometimes not.
DeletePlease appreciate that I remove these, (often the inappropriate and spam comments for a day can reach three figures) from the blog comment control page, so don’t see them in the context of any replies to them.
Michael,
DeleteMy comment was in no way a criticism of you. I appreciate that you remove these postings with alacrity as and when you can.
I suspect that this odious commentator derives sexual satisfaction from writing 'dirty' words.
John I didn’t take it as a criticism, I am just trying to get across to people that in the current spam storm moderating comments from my mobile phone takes the form of an hourly mass zapping that isn’t related much to what is happening on the blog.
DeleteI guess if I had more time I would look at the anonymous comment in much more detail and would strongly recommend that commentators get blogger ids, as comments from signed on commentators I do at least read through properly and seldom delete.
1:29. Could be, but no capitals and still pretty grammatical, as opposed to an exclamation mark at the end of a full sentence.
ReplyDeleteThese preceding posts are an inspiration for a pitch to TV commissioning editors for a programme entitled, 'Spot The Worrow' to be aired possibly on Cbeebies. Just imagine.
DeleteNow that's a good idea. ECR does telly stuff, maybe we should ask him.
DeleteHow about a "Spot the blog without John Holyer posting countless contributions yet adding nothing to the debate?"
ReplyDeleteAnonymouse.
Anonymouse 3:40pm,
DeleteYou admonish me that I post countless contributions. Well, it's not my fault that you are unable to count to a number that exceeds your fingers and toes.
Anonymouse 3:40pm
DeleteLet me approach you seriously. Are you able to tell me in say 20 words or so the subject that you wish to debate.
Now Now girls. If you cant behave in a civilised way I will have to send you back to the dorms.
ReplyDelete