Wednesday, December 05, 2007

A Night At The Blogs

Well the Neuries finally kicked in, so I've been catching up with the Thanet blogs.

Bignews Margate - Plucky Tony Flaig has taken on the freemasons, who have apparently been getting free publicity on Kent TV at the taxpayers expense! Good on yer, Tone! Although best stay clear of Blackfriars Bridge until the dust settles, old bean.

Pignews Ramsgate - I'm delighted to see that old ham, Lucy Mail, is back on the horse. Well, the milkman's horse to be precise. Still, it might have been a rash, er, decision (gedditt!!?!?!) to spill all in public!

Prove it, OVIT! - more argy-bargy over on One Voice in Thanet, who has the temerity to suggest that our favourite Doctor/Councillor's Thanet Lifers are occasionally less than politically correct. The cheek! Now Boredstares Blue Rinser Ewen Cameron has thrown his lawyer's wig in the ring, accusing OVIT of skating on thin ice, and saying that if such tendencies existed in the ruling Tory group, he would stand down. Well, let's hope that with the magic words 'Latchford' and 'racist email', I'll be reading about Councillor Cameron's resignation in Friday's Gazunder!

Thanet Strife - Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Some poor deluded tree planters have accepted a cheque for £3,000 from Oasis Hong Kong Airlines, the oozalum flight providers, and Infartil, our local airport operators. Talk about greenwash. Just like most of the birds round here, they've clearly been sucked in!

Click here for Tree Planters (sponsored by Oasis)

18 comments:

Lucy Mail said...

No use crying over anything that might have been spilled. Once I get Mikey into the habit of sticking it my box, I'm sure that all will be well.
I doubt that my tits will perish as a consequence, as they'll still be getting their quota of my next-door neighbours nuts.
Didn't get the 'rash, er' thing. Could you expand on that?

Amy Jones said...

Dear Richard, have responded to your comments on Thanetlife and copy it here as well.

" Good to see you have recovered from your trip to Eatern Europe, ECR, and welcome back. Trees for Thanet were expecting some 'flak' from your direction!

Consider the situation from their point of view for a moment; an airport at Manston is a reality that history has left us with and cheap air travel and training flights are also a reality that we in Thanet can do little about other than request that week-ends be avoided (The Doc was involved in that I think). Oasis now come down on Tuesdays.
Trees for Thanet can only achieve its goals with money from sponsors, the co-operation and involvement of farmers and landowners and the enthusiasm and energy of its young members. Since 1996 these three elements have come together successfully around the countryside immediately north of the airport.

As a result of Trees for Thanet projects, there is now a 5km permissive bridleway around the headlands and hedgerows of fields that until 2001 were cultivated right up to verges. These headlands are now used all week and at week-ends by walkers, dog-walkers and horse-riders from the many stables in the area and provide a safe and pleasant environment. The populations of lark, partridge, hares, voles, shrews, field-mice, kestrels, weasels,to name a few,have all grown in the area and within yards of busy 'country roads'.

The pollution caused by a huge increase in car-drivers using this area as a 'rat-run' to get to Westwood Cross (increased litter thrown from cars; cars in fields due to speeding; and noise and air-pollution) far outweighs the noise and pollution from the airport at Manston or the flights by Oasis Hong Kong Airlines.

Trees for Thanet, when seeking in the summer, sponsors for a project, approached Infratil and Oasis Hong Kong Airlines, simply on the basis that they would be aware of the impact their operations have on the area and would be willing to sponsor a successful and thriving group of young people in improving the environment to the immediate north of the airport. In a positive way, they are contributing to our local environment and in a way achieving some carbon off-setting and I for one am delighted that they have done so.

They are in fact demonstrating far more care for 'our' local environment than many of our 'local' car drivers and passengers hurtling along Manston Road. Come out with Trees for Thanet when we do a litter sweep and see just see how our own 'locals' have utter dis-respect for 'their' Thanet Countryside.

I can only put the case for sponsorship by Infratil and Oasis Hong Kong Airlines as I see it and it might help explain why an environmental group of 'tree-huggers' is quite happy to accept sponsorship whilst other environmentalists are chaining themselves to airport fences! I think it is fair to say that rather than 'talking', 'campaigning' and looking 'green', Trees for Thanet's philosophy is get out there and do something actively and positively to improve our environment in even a small way in Thanet. Look at their blog and see how they have put that philosophy into practice."

Richard Eastcliff said...

Rash, er.... bacon? Oh forget it!

As for tree-hugging... Well, some of this is news to me. So Oasis only ruin the Ramsgate environment every 9 minutes on Tuesdays now? Where and when was that announced as a formal policy? It's certainly an improvement on ruining the weekends, but could we have it in writing please, not just word of mouth?

I'm sure the Doc has been involved in massaging the airport's PR to some extent, and why shouldn't he? He's got a vested interest as a flyboy. I've got a vested interest in living in Ramsgate and not having a 400 tonne lump of aluminium flying over my house, rattling the windows and spewing hydrocarbons over me every 9 minutes. So I'll continue to do whatever it takes to point out the harm it's doing to the local environment and economy.

I sympathise with your tree-planting, Amy, and I'm sure you're doing great things for the north of the island. I take your point that many people on the island don't give a toss for its natural beauty, which is a shame because it is a great asset in attracting people to the area. TDC understands this to some extent, what with Thanet Is Beautiful and all, but suffers from a rather schizophrenic attitude when it comes to Manston, which will clearly be detrimental to the Thanet environment if it is not regulated properly.

So I'm afraid I do see this funding they've given you as a cheesy publicity stunt, which has nothing to do with being green, and everything to do with placating the growing body of opinion against Oasis and their oozalum flights. I'm sure you're well meaning, Amy, but you've been used.

Anonymous said...

Why has the airport not given something back to the people who are really affected under the flightpath? What good are trees to them? Heathrow pays for people who are affetced to install double glazing or would that cost more than £3000?

Anonymous said...

ECR re Roberto Calvi swinging under Blackfriars Bridge.

It emerged in US inquiries, re the Mafia man Sindona, that Hambros Banks top man in Italy was also our top MI6 man there. Calvis son worked for Hambros.

The Head of Hambros (Dorril History of MI6) was the founder of the later rogue NATO funded secret network called "Gladio" or "Stay Behind" said to have been in reality run by the P2 lodge of Italy of which Calvi was a member.

In UK the stay behind units were allegedly recruited from amongst the Galician SS division which settled here postwar championed by the anti semite Ipswich MP Richard Rapier Stokes (who as Privy Seal had worked with Sir Eric Berthouid to overthrow Mossadeq and install a Shah in Iran to protect basically BP oil acquisitions)

Airey Neave (Biography by Paul Routledge) was involved with the setting up of the stay behind units.

When in alruistic mood the merry pair of spooks (Sporborg and Neave) founded a charity to help bring "Forgotten allies" to this country. Funny how no one thought maybe the Galician SS might have been wrongly categorized ?

This was the Sue Ryder charity.

In 1972 there was a death of a nurse at the Sue Ryder HQ. And a suicide verdict handed down three days later at an inquest which sat in private within the Sue Ryder Home.

Just one dissenting police officer.

You got it. Irritating Bloke ?

And this has something to do with why he took the Suffolk Chief constable (who shortly afterwards retired) to Court last year.

Tangled webs ECR ?

Anonymous said...

Oh and I don't know if you have strong feelings about nuclear weapons ECR. But Hambros was involved with the UK independent nuclear programme from the start.

MI6/Hambros funded a penniless MI5 interpreter to buy a publishing house which in turn bought Butterworth Technical and thus acquired the Butterworth contract for collating the Nazi nuclear programme records.

That was pergamon press and Robert Maxwell ECR ?

As a journalist of some standing did you know that ?

Richard Eastcliff said...

Yep. Used to work for them actually.

Anonymous said...

Hello ECR, welcome back. You wrote " So I'll continue to do whatever it takes to point out the harm it's doing to the local environment and economy." OK so make a start and inform us just exactly what harm it is doing, with the proof please.
Congratulations on passing the half century on the Downing Street protest, do you think you;ll get the hundred by the expiry date?

Richard Eastcliff said...

Ah, Tony! Nice to hear your dulcets again. Almost as whiny as that 747 that keeps flying over my head!

FYI I have over 1000 signatures on paper that I've collected through my friends in the retail trade. All I have to do is find the time to enter them into the No. 10 system. And with the panto season approaching, well, I'm not sure I'm going to get the time.

Maybe you'd like to do it for me? There's a crisp new tenner in it for you, and it might help to while away the long dreary nights over there on the East Pier!

Anonymous said...

How can Amy have been used when she's a mate of Simon Moores and seems to know exactly what she is doing. More like hypocrisy I'd say.

Anonymous said...

A politicians answer ECR, an answer without any relevance to the question. Whats the East Pier, a night club?

Anonymous said...

Its a pity Amy did not attend the airport meeting yesterday evening.

It was a delight to view TDC admitting all sorts of skulduggery and significant failings in environmentally monitoring the airport correctly.

I wonder if the local press accurately report this meeting - Say Friday morning? Amy you have been used you must accept it and move on?

Anonymous said...

Tony..let me get this right. You want to know what harm a 747 flying at low altitude is doing to our environment?

BWAHAHAH!
let me help you with this:

According to British Airways, a 747-400 plane cruises at 576 mph (927km/h),
and burns 12,788 litres of fuel per hour.

Any help?

Anonymous said...

You all seem to have missed the point that Amy Jones makes about the Treehuggers approaching Infratil and Oasis in the first place. I don't know what community projects others are involved in that are short of funds but my lot could do with £3,000! Well done to the 'greens' for extracting conscience money; they beat us to it!

Anonymous said...

Anon 5:08pm
and the proven harm to the LOCAL environment is?

Richard Eastcliff said...

...devastating!

Lucy Mail said...

It's causing an awful lot of unnatural gas pockets to form on this blog.
You only have to read back through!
Including that first comment. Awful!

Anonymous said...

Tony
OK I give up.