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.
First my congratulations to Laura Sandys and commiserations to Steve Ladyman and the other candidates who lost.
The local implications here in Thanet South would suggest that we are likely to have a Conservative MP for some time to come, a majority of 7,617 is not something that would be easily overturned.
I can honestly say that in my dealings with Laura I have found her to be responsive and helpful and I am hoping that as a Conservative MP living in Ramsgate she will be influential in furthering Ramsgate’s case at all levels of government.
Many thanks to Your Thanet for the videos.
Here's the results footage, and speeches, from last nights count for Thanet South
Here's the results footage, and speeches, from last night’s count for Thanet North
The way the local politicians here are handling internet use in what is likely to be a closely fought seat is something that I find most interesting.
Putting up their press releases on http://thanetpress.blogspot.com/ is a continual reminder to me, today I noticed that Steve Ladyman is once again ahead of the game in that he has hosted his first video on youtube
I have embedded it below.
In the past he has just put his videos up on his own website http://www.stephenladyman.info/ this has one advantage from a politicians point of view, which is that no one can tell how many people have watched it, a bit cynical of me perhaps, but it wouldn’t look good for any politician if hardly anyone watched it as was the case with The Turner Contemporary’s videos.
Conversely this has the great disadvantage that people can’t embed the video in other websites, so far fewer people are likely to watch the videos.
On the whole Steve’s website is a pretty slick affair IT wise the only thing that I have noticed technically wrong with it, is that not all of his press releases feed properly.
Frankly the only big blunder on it is the link that says, “we want to hear from you” off you go to comment and then you find you can only do so if you are a member of The Labour Party, bit tough if you are just one of his constituents, and PR wise not so good.
Laura Sandys the Conservative Party candidates website is not so good http://www.voteforlaura.org.uk/ as it often has technical problems, at the moment there is a lot of HTML visible on the home page.
The video embedded there dates from February (Labours Death Tax) and not even Members of the Conservative Party can comment there.
As for Trevor Shonk the UKIP candidates web presence at http://www.ukipthanet.co.uk/ from an internet point of view, it as though he is actively trying to lose. It’s worth having a look at just to see how not to do it, is closest to one of those blogs that are coverd with advertising and where only one comment has been made since 2008. if it tells you anything about their candidate I couldn’t find it.
Apart from all of the poles for ages predicting a hung parliament, something that seems increasingly more likely, it highlights how ridiculous our current, first past the post, electoral system is.
What the technical explanations are I haven’t really looked into, but very roughly if Labour gets about 28% of the vote they just get the most seats, if the Conservatives get about 30% of the vote they just get the most seats and if the Lib Dems get 40% of the vote they just get the most seats.
From where I am sitting the system looks to have been rigged for benefit the main parties, if I behaved like this in business the trading standards people would be down on me like a ton of bricks.
There are several humorous election videos on the internet, below is an example.
The picture is of the tram accident is when a tram jumped the rails on Madeira Walk in 1905. I believe the building in the background with the advertisements on it is probably the old Queens Head one of the last of the buildings to be demolished on Harbour Parade to make way for the Customs House new Kings Head etc.
As I have said before I am still undecided about which way I will vote, here in Thanet South the only two candidates who appear to have a chance of getting elected are Steve and Laura and both of them have always responded courteously and helpfully to me.
I believe either would make a reasonably good MP from my point of view as constituent.
This rather leaves the decision a national one and because of the way the election is being fought, increasingly a battle between the leaders.
Previously the main two have been telling us that if the other party gets elected economic disaster will ensue, I have to say that I am inclined to believe both of them on this point.
Now they are saying that a hung parliament will result in economic disaster and once again I am inclined to believe them.
So it really is about a choice between the lesser of three evils from my point of view, I was talking to a someone who has been involved in politics much more deeply than I ever have the other day and he said that he intended to spoil his ballot paper.
I still take the stance that I will vote as I see it as my civic duty, however in a way the third option now of course is that voting Lib Dem even in a seat where they don’t stand a chance of the candidate getting elected, could help to cause a situation where they get the highest percentage of the vote, but don’t get elected.
I wonder if this could cause a situation where Nick Clegg became leader of a coalition, it is as they say an interesting point, I am certainly not that keen on having a hung parliament where the leader expects this to result in economic ruin.
If all went well at TDCIT the webcast of last Thursday’s council meeting should be available tomorrow, it’s always good to see our democracy in action.
Oh I also meant to mention that both Laura and Steve have feeds on their sites and both have got them slightly wrongly organised so only some of their new information actually feeds.
As a floating voter my estimation of the different parties goes up and down like a yoyo, the following from today is an example not a final judgment.
Labour up as Brown admits mistake.
Conservatives down as I am pretty sure they would have been leaning on Labour at the time for more deregulation of the banks, not less, so a silly one to lay into Brown about.
Lib Dems down for stupid mistake over tax threshold in manifesto.
Due to a peculiarity of internet statistics I am trying to get this blog to be perceived as a political blog, so rather a political ramble today.
With the general election looming and many pundits suggesting that the internet is going to very influential in this election I have just been having a look at the way Thanet’s political influencers are grappling with the internet.
Like it or not the main Thanet internet forum is blogger something for the most part our MPs and hopeful candidates seem to give a fairly wide berth, fairly unrestricted public internet forums present various problems for politicians.
There are considerable restrictions on what the various candidates in the forthcoming elections can and can’t say in a public forum and still remain candidates, partly because of electoral rules and partly because of the political parties they represent.
One way an astute and politically knowledgeable blogger can exploit this situation is by asking why candidates haven’t commented on something that they know full well they can’t, something that makes for some amusement.
Oddly enough most of the candidates seem to be somewhat aloof of this situation, I believe that they assume the ordinary voter is much more clued up than they really are.
At the moment the general consensus seems to be that here in Thanet the election is a bit of a three horse race, with Roger Gale odds on for Thanet North, and Steve Ladyman and Laura Sandys battling it out in Thanet South.
The two main Thanet Politicaly slanted blogs Thanet Life run by Conservative councillor and From One End of Kent run by Labour councillor Mark Nottingham have had a fair amount to say about national politics lately.
Most of the people I talk to who are likely to vote seem to be most worried about the economic situation after the election, the concerns mostly seem to revolve around what the financial cuts will be and how this will effect them, both in terms of personal allowances and benefits and in terms of how either the business they run or work for will be effected.
The whole thing seems to be much more about who will lose the election than who will win it, with people trying to work out which will be the least bad option for the personally.
I think that the expenses scandal has damaged what trust existed between the electorate and our MPs much more that our MPs seem to realise, in fact trust is very much the key word in this election.
Back before the banking crisis the trust that was being talked about was mostly about Tony Blair taking us to war under false pretences and the trust that was damaged by doing so meant many who would have voted Labour, intended not to for this reason.
I don’t think the economic crisis in itself is seen as being the government’s fault, in fact many have a perception that a Conservative government wouldn’t have handled it any better.
There is also a sense that within a democracy a change of government occasionally is something healthy and that when one party remains in power for too long, they become too comfortable.
Some feel that a hung parliament wouldn’t be such a bad thing, not because they would make a good government but because they would be more likely to implement electoral and parliamentary reforms, something often promised but seldom achieved.
It would however locally seem that as Thanet South is a marginal the few floating voters in that constituency will have a disproportionate effect on who forms the next government.
As far as the two major candidates go both are personable and responsive individuals and I am aware that both do a lot to help local people, regardless of their political affiliations.
Mainly because of this I get a sense that any mud slinging is likely to be counter productive and I suppose that those who are voting by making a choice between Steve and Laura have two things to weigh up.
One is how influential either of them would be in any new government and even this is a bit of a double edged sword as an MP with greater responsibility in parliament is likely both to have less time for their constituents but more influence to achieve things for them.
The other is which is most likely to pursue their concerns and try hardest to resolve their problems.
The other group of floating voters will be making a choice between the national parties or their leaders, trying to cut through the spin, hype and twaddle and work out which will make the best government, or as I have already stated the worst.
I also get the impression that some of the floating voters that vote Labour will be both ashamed of doing so because of the trust that was broken by Tony Blair and scared of voting for change, in case some cut finishes off their livelihood.
Because of this I think it possible that Labour are doing rather better than the polls suggest, as I think quite a few people would be a bit reluctant to say that they intended to do something that they new in their hearts to be based on their shame or fear.
One thing that is of great concern is the way the Conservatives are talking austerity in the one hand and yet our Conservative run county council is behaving, funding silly walks isn’t likely to be perceived as sensible even by the most conservative of the Conservatives.
As I suppose everyone must know 2010 is to be an election year when we elect our MPs and I am wondering, as a floating voter where I will put my X.
As I see it the electorate in the UK is segmented into two main groups, those who always vote for a particular party and therefore really make no difference and those who don’t and therefore have to make some sort of decision.
The decision making group then further segment into those who live in constituencies that are so dominated by one party that their vote makes no difference and those like Thanet South, where the votes of those of us who don’t always vote the same way actually have some effect of what party eventually governs the country.
I haven’t worked it out but suspect that people who fall into this group are probably in the order of 10% of the electorate.
It’s a peculiar system and one that seems to encourage a lot of the electorate not to vote, but it is the system that we have and with the election looming the only one we have to use.
Here there is also the Thanet factor, which is a sort of mixture of the following:
Considerable disaffection with the local Conservative council administration.
A relatively strong internet community the political part being mostly blog based, seemingly stronger than any other area in the southeast and something that already has an effect on conventional local media.
Presumably this must have some sort of effect on how local people will vote here in Thanet, in fact I think it would be fair to say that this election will be more effected by the internet than any other, so in the first instance I though I would have a look to see how the main political parties were web wise.
So to start with local Labour and Conservative associations and election candidates websites and blogs.
Labour first
The local Labour association website.
Top ranking on Google for the phrase “Thanet Labour”
This website seems to have last been updated in 2008, it has no feeds so there is no way that anyone can subscribe to, nor is any way I can put some sort of live updating link on this blog so you can see if it ever gets updated.
Fifth ranking on Google for the phrase “Thanet Labour”
This is a very sophisticated website with feeds (updates appear on my sidebar) KIA survey on the homepage, video hosted on site with some linking to social networking via facebook.
A bit of a deeper delve suggests that despite this being a sophisticated and expensive site the last press release went up last October. The sidebar announces: Whats new this week - 28/4/08, also a bit peculiar.
Interestingly this site has a place where people can leave comments at http://www.stephenladyman.info/ft_have_your_say_f10d7a59-ba0e-2054-e1a5-a819cdee611a a couple of thoughts here, first I find it quite strange that no one has commented here since April 2009 and second this is quite a bold move by any MP, so please don’t abuse it as we are better of with it than without it.
Twenty first ranking on google for the phrase “Thanet Conservative”
No feeds and nowhere interactive.
The site seems to have last been updated on the 8th December 2009, the fact that the press release that I received on the 21st December and published on http://thanetpress.blogspot.com/ doesn’t seem to have appeared on his site yet suggests not being too internet savvy.
No feeds, I couldn’t find her email address either, contact form only.
The last press release published 25th November 2009 the last one I had was 4th December.
Having said all of this I should point out that it is only the two MPs sites that are likely to be funded by us via their expenses, I haven’t checked this out.
What I am getting at here is that the way the local politicians and political parties use the internet in the run up to the elections is very important.
Certainly the two local politicians who blog regularly do leave me feeling that I have something of their measure see http://birchington.blogspot.com/ and http://marknottingham.blogspot.com/ I am not talking here about agreeing of disagreeing with them but just about their willingness to communicate and tell us who they are and what they think.
There is also another factor here and that is some sort of measure of competence and efficiency, since most of what our MPs do is essentially what used to be called paper pushing and is now keyboard tapping, this is some indicator of how good they are at it.
“Stephen Ladyman claimed property in Ramsgate as second home with a £1,000 monthly mortgage interest between 2005 and 2008.Charged for regular £80 cleaning bills, £95 utilities, £50 telephone bill and £340 for food”
Once again as I did with Roger Gale I should stress that Steve is one of the MPs to take us for the least and both he and Roger obviously stayed well within the rules.
However I am not so very happy about £4,000 a year food bill in terms of what he costs us £137,559 he is so close to Roger as to make no difference.
Although in business I believe I could claim against income tax for staff entertainment and entertaining foreign clients, although I never do I certainly wouldn’t be able to claim a bean without a receipt.
My position in the Royal British Legion is strictly non-political and I try to keep it that way. The role of the President is to be a person of standing' in the community, to raise the profile of the Legion and to advise the executive committee as needed. I promised when I took up the role I would not exploit it in any way for political purposes and I don't. Unfortunately, some other people, of opposing political views, do try and exploit my position with this sort of comment, however, I note they lack the courage to put their own name to their comments.
As for the Gurkhas, I have not read the local papers this weekend as I have been away so don't know what they say. The facts are these:
I was very concerned about the Government proposals and refused to vote for them. After a frantic afternoon of negotiation the Home Secretary recognised the concerns that some of us on the Labour benches had and made a series of concessions. These were summarised in a letter that was circulated about an hour BEFORE the vote. That letter promised that no Gurkhas would be deported, that the facts and figures being quoted would be reviewed and a new set of rules drawn up to deal with the pre-1997 service Gurkhas in Nepal. In other words, everything that campaigners were asking for was conceded before the vote so I was then able to vote for the Government. Unfortunately, for the Government some of my colleagues did not get the letter in time and voted against which is why the vote was lost.
I would also add that Lord Brammall, former Chief of the Defence Staff who served with the Gurkhas wrote an article in the Independent against the idea that the Government should change its position. Here is the link for those who really want to be informed on this issue:
I get a fair few political press releases, Thanet Life used to publish some and I thought perhaps I should publish the ones I get so here we go first one from Steve Ladyman.
Following the news that the Woodnesborough Post Office is to close, South Thanet MP Steve Ladyman is campaigning for Woodnesborough to be served by a Mobile Post Office.
Steve said, "I'm very disappointed that Woodnesborough is closing as that closure will mean real hardship for some people, especially older people, in the village. Perhaps it was inevitable since the Post Mistress was keen to let the office go and you have to respect her desire to move on with her life even if it will be a sad day for the village when the Office closes." 'However, I intend to write to the Post Office to see if there is any possibility of a peripatetic service attending the village. If there was a visiting mobile service every week that would certainly allow older people and people with difficulty using public transport to get their pension." This news follows Steves welcoming the decision by the Post Office not to close Cliffsend Post Office. "The decision means that a much needed village resource has been saved and the village hall has a chance to prosper. I am grateful to everyone who responded to my survey and helped me give the Post Office the constructive feedback they needed to arrive at this decision. As I said at the time, crude petitions make little or no difference in this process but the detailed responses I was able to feed to the Post Office thanks to the efforts of everyone who responded to me have won the day." On the other hand, Dr.Ladyman professed himself disappointed that two Ramsgate Post Offices are still to close. "We gave the Post Office good feedback about the two Ramsgate offices but in the end I think the Post Office have decided there were good enough alternatives at St Lawrence and in the Town Centre. It's a disappointment." The Government has put a great deal of money into the Post Office and no other political party has even said they would match it. The Liberal Democrats say they would privatise Royal Mail to pay to keep some branches open and the Tories have done no more than shed crocodile tears over closing branches without offering one penny more to save them. Thanks to the Government the remaining branches will provide a wide ranging and sustainable service into the future. Cliffsend and the many other branches currently operating in South Thanet will be part of that service; it's a great shame that these two Ramsgate branches and Woodnesborough will not be."
