I think this must date from between 1877 when Granville
marina was built and 1879 when construction started on Ramsgate Pier.
Many thanks to Ben for supplying the image.
Travellers or gypsies set up camp in King George VI park in
Ramsgate this week here is the Gazette article http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/Traveller-camp-sets-King-George-VI-Park-Ramsgate/story-18803877-detail/story.html#axzz2RVfJzheq
And there is the extraordinary business of the filming of council
meetings where councillors appear to have decided that neither The Gazette nor
the BBC are accredited media organisations
I was unable to attend this meeting as I have
primary school children, so the only way I would have been able to understand
what went on was by watching the video.
I guess my first observation about the
filming of this meeting is that one of the main agenda items was the Royal
Sands Development on the Pleasurama site in Ramsgate and I should have liked to
have seen the film of the rest of the meeting.
I suppose the big news of the day is that
Transeuropa Ferries have gone into administration, this story started out on Eastcliff
Richards’s blog see http://eastcliffrichard.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/transeuropa%20ferries
and the latest news article is at http://www.kentonline.co.uk/thanet_extra/news/2013/april/26/transeuropa.aspx
I have mixed feelings about this one, on the
negative side we have lost local jobs something we can ill afford, and positive
side these were very old ferries that produce a lot of pollution over the town,
when the wind was in the wrong direction.
My own feelings are that the council needs
to have a considerable review of Port Ramsgate in particularly considering
turning it into a water related leisure facility.
My understanding is that in terms of Ramsgate Harbour in recent years the marina has
made a considerable profit and the port a considerable loss.
There is also the question of how much
Transeuropa owed TDC when they went into administration.
I now come on to the problem of blog
comments I think it fair to say that some of the recent comment here and on my
Thanet Press Release blog http://thanetpress.blogspot.co.uk/
is both putting me off continuing to publish both blogs and is putting ordinary
commentators off from commenting.
I have several distinct types of comment
that are pretty much impossible to deal with apart from deleting or spamming
them straight away.
If you go back to the blogging situation in
Thanet about a year ago, managing comment was easy, if I had a week with 50
blog comments published there were perhaps 10 commercial spam comments that I deleted
and occasionally a comment tat fell into the potentially libellous bracket,
often I just edited out the potentially libellous bit and published it.
Now for 50 comments actually published I get
about 1,000 commercial spam comments about 5 that are potentially libellous or just
derogatory towards real people.
Added to this is the new problem of copying
comments and other chunks of text and pasting them into the comment form, often
with some added and unpleasant content and I have something that is becoming
too time consuming to manage.
The newest kid on the block here is John
Hamilton who seems to have developed an obsession about Councillor Ian Driver
Anyway this chap says he isn’t anonymous and
is commenting under his own name, I could only find one Youtube clip uploaded
by someone of the that name with Thanet connections, I wonder if it is the same
man.
Incidentally for those of you who don’t know
how to copy a youtube video to your commuter in case it suddenly gets deleted by
the person who published it, you put ss after the www. bit like this www.ssyoutube.com/watch?v=FmXS6vjhqeE
and chose the file type and quality from the links on the right.
I will ramble on here as I get time.
The Travellers got stranded on their way to the Ferry which stopped operating ?
ReplyDeletePeter, his party chiefs must have put a gag on him until after the election, that way he cant open his mouth and put both his feet in it.
ReplyDeleteAs a candidate he is supposed to operate by certain rules, a situation totally lost on the incorrigible Driver who has now jumped on the demise of Transeuropa ferries bandwagon, although his noisy animal export ban campaign, coupled with TDC Labour's illegal decision to ban that trade, could have done nothing to help that struggling company.
DeleteObsession with Driver, not particularly. I simply detest lies and bullshit, hence Driver attrracts a lot of comment from myself.
DeleteI have been commenting on FB for approx 2 years maybe on various subjects, but am new to the world of blogging. I must say that I find it amusing that you claim I am anonomous yet have helped me in setting up my own blog Michael. Oh and for the record, I have never uploaded anything to Youtube.
Here's the last 10 posts from John Hamilton's blog:
DeleteDriver's nemesis.......would be nice
Driver makes us laugh AGAIN!
Is this the ONLY Thanet blog that allows free speech (Driver-related)
Driver humiliated AGAIN!
Cuckoo cuckoo, It's a Driver bird..
Driver over reaching himself yet again...
Driver makes a fool of himself....again
Driver's pet monkey has been bad
Driver and his monkey humiliated again.
The occutard children are having a day out (about Driver)...
According to blogger, he even wrote his latest post at around 4am!
Seems a bit obsessed to me.
John, this is quite simple really, identity relates to a real person, having a blog started in feb 2013 a facebook account started in nov 2012 and a possible youtube account all with interests that seem to be geographically centred on Thanet with a leaning towards Margate, called Jon Hamilton, don’t make you in any sense a real person, anymore that someone called John Smith would be real without some sort of attachment to a real identity it is just a name.
DeletePeople like Ian Driver and Christine Tongue have real identities that link to their positions in life, addresses, jobs etc and separate them from all the other people of the same name.
Now it doesn’t really matter if you agree with people or not, you can’t go beyond a line here with any real people, politicians, writers, filmmakers, road sweepers, local businessmen.
The same applies to all of them you call any of them - from the MP’s council’s chief executive, the leader of the council, the local mayor at one end of the scale to road sweepers and shop assistants like me at the other end of the scale – call them liars, monkeys etc here and your comment gets deleted.
I do indeed do my best to help people on the local blogs both those who seek to conceal identity like you and those who don’t like Simon Moores and Ian Driver who don’t.
I have some small understanding of ITC as I have used computers since 1968 and occasionally write programs for or give some other input to these people that sometimes seems to help them.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMichael, because I have not chosen to pop down and introduce myself, and seek accreditation from you, does not mean I am anonomous, any more that Enid Blyton is anonomous as I've nevere met her. It merely means that I have no real need, nor motivation to seek your's or anyone else's approval for beliefs.
DeleteI live in Thanet, no not in Margate, (god forbid!) and work in Kent not far from Thanet. Do I chose to make my address/details public knowledge, hell no! The thought of having to go to all the trouble of having to slap an occutard who may fancy his/her chances, or having tardtv turn up making a nuisance of themselves, and lowering property values precludes such openness. I regard the internet as akin to having a chat with people in the pub. Would I tell them where I live and work, HIGHLY unlikely, would I ever wish to meet them outside the pub, even less likely.
You I have met a few times, the vast majority of the other contributers here, with some notable exceptions, I can see no scenario in which I would lower myself to find them in my company.
FYI as i told you before, I don;t have a youtube account, never have had, and been on FB since 2009, though 2 accounts have been hacked over the years. I choose my friends and aquaintancies carefuly, and just like my house and property, keep my personal details safe from those who can't be trusted.
John this has nothing to do with knowing me, and everything to do with being known publicly, in this sense you are anonymous and whether you like or not you are not allowed to insult real people here.
DeleteAs far as your various internet accounts go of course your anonymity means that you can say what you like, it isn’t possible for you to lie in the sense of “My grandmother is an all in wrestler” so of course I believe everything you say within those parameters.
An insult Michael, by definition, has be to untrue. I have yet to post an untrue comment here or on any other blog.
DeleteVarious internet accounts? FB, this blog acc (just the one ;) ), a twitter account I can't remember the password to, and my hotmail account, not that excessive i wouldn't have thought. As it seems you have no clue as to the meaning of anonimity, it would seem fruitless to continue to enlighten you in that respect.
I shall merely accept that you will do as you please to protect Driver and his minions. I expected better from you, but then i suppose members of most of the pressure groups in Thanet leave a great deal to be desired, hey ho.
Surely it's about time you wrote another blog post about Driver? It's been nearly 20 hours since the last one.
DeleteUnlike yourself Anon 11:42, I like my posts to have a point and relevance :-)
DeleteJohn Hamilton is an ECR creation that's what I heard at the clifftop mansion the other day.
ReplyDeleteStrange because I know John Hamilton and he is the political opposite of ECR.
DeleteAnd Sister Assumpta is the gender opposite. But thanks for your input.
DeleteSeparated at birth??
DeleteThe guy in the YT video is very camp! Perhaps John Hamilton (if it is the same guy) is in denial, hence his anger issues?
DeleteI am very close to both my parents, and can assure everyone that neither of them is called ECR, and i have only appeared on TV 3 times in my life, and never youtube :-)
DeleteI AM John Hamilton!
DeleteNo, I'm not really.
DeleteThere again, I might be, actually.
DeleteI think I may be having another of my identity crises.
DeleteECR perhaps you shouldn’t have taken your wig off to make the video, granted it does make you look like Ian Driver.
DeleteIs running the port viable?
ReplyDeletefrom page 94 of the last TDC accounts TDC Accounts 2011-12
Ramsgate port expenditure £3,053,000 income £2,187,000 - loss £866,000.
Ramsgate harbour made a profit of £812,000.
Look like a case to expand the harbour.
Looks like some very dubious accounting, with twice as many staff at the harbour as at the port where has all the money gone.
DeleteGo take your porn pics you pervert!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteSorry 7.19 zapped your comment by mistake, reading glasses and mobile phone I have replaced it below:
Delete19:19 (2 hours ago)
They might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I'd hardly call Michael's photos of Ramsgate porn!
7.19 I think 6.55 may have tried multitasking
DeleteWhy are many of the councillors standing again? They're useless aren't they?
ReplyDeleteNice video on Thanet Watch of ex tory Latchford standing for UKIP. dont the Tories want him back :)
DeleteI have considered your post at length Peter, and cannot come up with a single scenario where it's possible for Mr Latchford to look worse that homophobe finder general Worrow and his merry band. Not even poor ole Tongues 5th rate editing could manage that, try as she might!
DeleteOf course they want him back to carry on the good work of his former boss Ezekiel... Latchford is a lovely down to earth man, who never gets angry or looks down or people.. Birchington needs other 76 year old hasbin
ReplyDelete"And there is the extraordinary business of the filming of council meetings where councillors appear to have decided that neither The Gazette nor the BBC are accredited media organisations"
ReplyDeleteI think you'll find it was the credentials of someone whose sole claim to journalistic experience is making contributions of 5th rate video's to a propaganda pamplet. The real situation is hardly as you seem to want to present it Michael.
Sorry Peter, but if those objecting to tardtv's presence had simply had her thrown out, she would have whined about being singled out, and how unfair life is. It's only Drivers engineered publicity stunt that ended up causing the ejection of everyone, as always, it's all the poor lad has.
DeleteMichael, I did a new post about half an hour ago but it is not showing on your toolbar?
ReplyDeleteAny technical issue here maybe?
Some of us are standing again because we honestly believe we have done the best job we could have done in difficult circumstances. Difficult circumstances that in part have been left as a legacy for us by the previous Labour national government and its out of control public expenditure over the last years of its time in power. There are some of us who dont court the outrageous publicity, just try and get on with the tasks of representing people to the best of our ability in their difficulties, something that never does, nor should hit the press or the blogs. It is interesting to note that constant unrelenting consituency work is probably the secret to Roger Gales longevity and popularity with his constituents.
ReplyDeleteJohn Worrow was 'kind' enough to send me a link to the 'Birchington fracas'. Here is a copy of my reply to him: "Brilliant. Your pathetic antics almost certainly just added 200 votes to UKIP's total in Birchington, assuming that many people even see the relevant bit of film. Can I book you and Christine to come and do the same for me in Cliftonville please? How publicly rude to you do I have to be to get you to help me in the same way! Pratt!"
If you ever wanted to see why 'citizen journalist' Christine Tongue is treated with suspision by cllrs here is the prime example. She has been here part of a deliberate set up around one particular candidate, whose views you may or may not agree with, but who is not actually doing anything wrong in canvassing for votes. At KCC we work under the live webcast to the public most of the time, and that is the ideal because alongside any other attempts to record is a true running record - but it is not inexpensive, and it can at times be like watching paint dry I am sure. So those of us who are at KCC are used to working with the cameras. However, I doubt if all district councils could afford such coverage so there are real issues and risks here for democratic accountability, especially if there are people around whose editing is suspect. Example, prior to a recent council meeting the pleasurama guys approached all cllrs with a camera in tow, for their comments. I had a two to three minute civil conversation with Janet Woods, which was filmed, but never used. The only clips used were of cllrs who did not handle the interview well; or others who said things which got a cheer from the crowd, like having a public meeting re Pleasurama. As a result, most who watch will think cllrs for the protesters are good; those against only sound daft - thats the magic of editing.
Chris this goes back to 2008 when I first raised the issue with the council, I have covered the issue extensively on my blog raised it with the LGO in early 2009, this click here is just an example of the reams of correspondence.
DeleteThe underlying problem is that the council has been obstructive all of the way and has endeavoured to use a bad and more expensive method to publish the video they do actually produce online.
There is no technical reason why meetings they do video couldn’t be live streamed onto youtube, breakdowns and all, for nothing, rather than the expensive and delayed hosting they use at the moment.
My last response from the sys they don’t use their youtube account for this because of protecting the council’s copyright.
Obviously utter nonsense and it is this attitude rather than cost that has lead to the current situation.
The constant cooperation between Christine and her filming and anti establishment causes also set a tone for many regarding the issue of filming at council meetings. Christine claims that the reason is to hide poor behaviour; I could as easily legitimately claim the editing never shows those of us who behave well. The only real answer is better council filming and production, part of which is happening as we speak because there are new microphones being fitted to the council chamber I understand as part of a refit. A reliable quality filming and production by the council should help this issue enormously. Personally, I would say I am not sure it is the best priority for expenditure right now when money is tight, but the furore over this has reached such a level it may simply have to be spent, and something else do without..and that is peanuts compared to the coming court case over live animal exports, where decisions were foolishly made without proper legal advice and could cost all taxpayers dear. Can I remind you all that after the public had left the chamber last week Cllr Jack Cohen stood up and said that such a price was worth paying for the principle of animal welfare; whereas earlier the FORSplea to send £5m on regaining the seafront had been rebuffed by the labour administration. Both issues could be resolved more cost effectively with a bit of patience and honesty. There you go, according to some philosophies, its only your taxes that they are spending, its not real money at all...although it was when it left yours and my bank accounts I seem to recall!!!!
ReplyDeleteChris your 11:47 & 11:48,
ReplyDeleteWell said.
Ditto.
DeleteExcellently put Cllr Wells, couldn't agree more!
DeleteShame there isn't a like button on blogs!
Personally I would like Laura to get more involved with the mess that is Pleasurama but sadly so far nothing.
ReplyDeleteI note from the Gazunder Friday there was a meeting between Sue Macgonical, Harvey and Mark Seed and the developer Shaun Keegan and his adviser Mike Rider (is this the same Mike Rider who helped Sandy to an 18 month sentence at the recent trial)
Barry James,
DeleteI believe that Laura could sort out this mess.
Peter,
ReplyDeleteHere, here.
Look ladies and gents, the Pleasurama issue is a district council issue. The difficulties date back to the previous labour administration's selection of a developer on whom they could never undertake proper due diligence; their overiding of officer advice to determine the previous Jimmy Godden plans; their loss of a chief executive, having held meetings to discuss it without a monitoring officer present; and the pretence that they had always made the right decision. The following Conservative administrations continued the development agreement, and re arranged with audit office approval in 2006; re arranged it again against officer advice in 2009; and appear to have missed out on their own money laundering ploucy checks in the interim. No one comes out looking good. FORS have now produced the background connections which TDC officers seemed unable to discover, and we probably now have real oversight of some of the characters we are dealing with and their backgrounds. It is for TDC to assess and work to a reasoned conclusion their historic mess of this project; get it built or get us out!
ReplyDeleteChris I guess the admission of errors from both political parties and especially their senior councillors like yourself form the first steps on the road to a solution for Pleasurama.
DeleteI think the council’s position when countering the litigation relating to determining the development agreement and associated leases, has to be supported by councillors admitting that they wouldn’t have made the decisions they did, had they been aware of the true situation.
The key documentation relating to the initial scam, SFP claiming to be development arm of a Swiss bank in partnership Whitbread the brewer; the SFP presentation saying this in writing and the letters from Whitbread and the Swiss bank denying this are published here
Chris, your 7:20pm
DeleteWell put, thank you.
And here's another irony - Ian Driver is basing his whole county council campaign on an issue that has nothing to do with the county council - either at Pleasurama or filming level!
ReplyDeleteHe has no coherant campaign, only a seris of publicity stunts, hoping people wonlt notice he has nothing to offer, and that they will simply be impressed by volume.
DeleteIf John Hamilton isn't a real person, is he a creation of one of the political parties who are worried that he might displace their candidate?
ReplyDelete