Er, sorry about that last post. However, I am now much restored and neurie dust sprinkled on Kelloggs appears to have done the trick again this morning.So, thanks to Bertie Biggles' excellent Thanet Strife blog, we now know the Culture Minister Margaret Hodge will be touring Margate tomorrow morning apropos of doling out £3.7m worth of state aid to prop up the town's festering Dreamland hole. As the island's premier blogger, I have every intention of attending in the press corps. But what questions should I put to Ms Hodge? I've drafted a few here:
- Ms Hodge, do you know you are shaking hands with a man who is currently being prosecuted by the RSPCA for causing unnecessary suffering to a kitten?
- Ms Hodge, are you aware that this other man you are shaking hands with has been up before the Standards people twice? Once for calling another politician a 'f*cking tosser' and on a second occasion for causing upset when a petition he disapproved of was being handed over?
- Ms Hodge, would you like to comment on the fact that several buildings along Margate front, along with the Dreamland Scenic Railway itself, have been subjected to arson over the past six years, and that the local woodentops have yet to prosecute anyone?
- Ms Hodge, what would your view be of a company that received EU grants to enhance an attraction that was pulling in 100s of 1000s of visitors, which then had to close a few years later due to 'lack of interest'?
- Ms Hodge, do you honestly think it is in the taxpayers' interest to hand over almost £4m of their mazoomah to help regenerate a town which is clearly suffering because of the local authority's madcap scheme to build an entirely new town from scratch at Westwood Cross?
There. That should do the trick!
Click here for Margaret Hodge's seaside tour in The Sunday Times
Click here to read about £3.7m Dreamland grant in the Daily Wail
7 comments:
Did you see that the new Dr Who animation is called 'Dreamland'...
Such a ground breaking thought train that nobody has been clever enough to come up with the idea until now?
Or such a shit idea to create an attraction from discarded rides that only Margate would try to put it into practice?
Seeing as margates arcades are full of 20 year old games and not drawing the punter in, can we take anything from that?
As you know, I've been very sceptical about the success of a 'heritage/vintage' theme park on the site. But I guess a lot of people have put a lot of hard work into getting the funding, and getting the whole ball rolling, so far be it for me to detract from it. Lord knows, Margate needs a functioning Dreamland, so all I can say is the best of British!
Peter Checksfield running it and," Gary Glitter blaring out from speakers".
God help us all.
i was shocked to see that the only vision for dreamland was to rebuild childhood dreams for all those old fraudsters. Hardly a relvent and inspiring idea for the kids and young parents that are the future of thanet. If they are not involved in their community or feel outsiders they will seek to destroy what is around them. Out of date attractions that people are flogging is a sad reflection of what they feel people round here want. The kids are pumped up on sugar drinks and god knows what else, give them somewhere to release energy not just the beach or jungle jims aslyum. Pie factory does so much good on ground level in ramsgate. If people continue to hide in little safe havens around thanet pretending they are above all this then they should rub shoulders with the big players in the world. Ideas for dream land ice rink, sports center, aqua park this is where people will spend there money not on crap like turner center the only employment that will bring is 2 security staff and a dog plus 1 reception staff. Would you travel from london to see these paintings when you have gallerys there with world renownened paintings? people with kids are not going to drag them around these places, plus i bet it is not all turners great paintings just a few watercolours. Give people what they really want and stop creating this veneer over thanet a place that ia alive on just a place to sip overpriced wine in wine bars that look like out of date hotel lobbyes. people sitting there telling each other how tranquail everything is, you need energy and life put into this place where people are doing more then just drinking. i will continue to do my bit for the community and yes i can not spell i just graft.
Larissa - perfectly put.
All for Dreamland but I beleive they are not re-vamping the whole site, so whats happening to the rest? Houses/flats...
Like Margate needs more housing. The mess of the Sea Bathing needs sorting before even more flats are built.
Im afraid to say though that Dreamland alone will not secure the future of Margate. The entire seafront and high street needs action. Its a dump.
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