Monday, March 24, 2014

Buchanan Skips Town?

One of my lovely readers has sent in this pic and asks:

'Would this be evidence of Charles 'Smiler' Buchanan, the boss of Manston Airport, clearing out his office? I think we should be told.'

Well, er, I'm not sure about that. A quick check of the old telephone number there reveals that it's Scottish. Although, of course, the airport's Scottish owner may well have sent him his P45 in a bloody great orange metal envelope!

Meanwhile Norf Fannit Tory MP Sir Roger Wind appears to be gallumphing to the rescue, saying he has interest from a buyer, backed by a consortium, who wants to take over the airport. That may well be because he's told them Manston has the 4th longest runway in the UK (it hasn't, it's only the 14th longest), and that 'planes fly straight out to sea' (they don't, they go over a town of 40,000 people and 2,500 listed buildings called Ramsgate).

If the only hope for Manston is the guff emanating from Roger Gale's nether regions, then sadly, in all likelihood, it's doomed.

Click here to read more about Roger's 'consortium' in Kent Messenger.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps you can also link to the 10,000+ signature campaign to save the airport ECR, or doesn't that fit your blinkered view?

Anonymous said...

Better still, track down Steve Higgins for his opinion! The Gazette tried but failed.

Anonymous said...

Gloags plans to build are well scuppered .. She has no choice but to sell. :-)

Anonymous said...

S.M.E.G. is finished!

Ian Driver said...

Don't be too sure anon the new homes bonus paid to TDC by central government and central governments relaxation of planning rules make it easier for Gloating Gloag to get permission.

Anonymous said...

maybe look back to older documents ...

Anonymous said...

Perhaps the 10,000 slaktavists who have signed the petition would a)move and live under the 'flightpath' and b)turn their newfound collectivism to doing something useful for Thanet like addressing the real issues like useles governance, outrageously high unemployment, closure of services for the elderly and vulnerable,in fact take action against a sea of troubles, that the survival or otherwise of the airport will make no difference to whatsoever.

Anonymous said...

We'll leave that to you 8:10. You're obviously doing a fantastic job of changing Thanet yourself by (erm) posting anonymous comments on blogs. That'll show 'em!

Anonymous said...

In fairness, 8:10, has some ground breaking ideas on his Twitter, like Time for Change, although that probably refers to his underwear.

Anonymous said...

As long as the 10,000 + pay the £10,000 losses per day to financially support the so called windy gales consortium...thought not!!!

Schmoozyschlepp said...

Right on Anon 8.10pm - and if something could be done to raise the general education standards, perhaps employers would be keener to locate here - at present our low educational achievement levels and abysmal skills levels are more of a threat to employment in Thanet than any number of Manston closures.

Anonymous said...

I don't know who's posting all these daft comments about Steve Higgins, but the truth is simple: he now supports the airport!

Richard Eastcliff said...

Roger Gale lost touch with the real world decades ago, unfortunately, and he is hardly the toast of Westminster. Laura is lovely and much more in with the Etonians, but she's leaving. I therefore doubt whether the petition will have any effect on anything. At least it gives people something to fiddle with while Thanet burns, that's about the best I can say about it.

Anonymous said...

The same Roger Gale who's won every election since 1983 and will almost certainly win the next one? Seems to do alright in the real world to me!

What about the elusive Steve Higgins, any comment on him?

Anonymous said...

Wow, Rog is holding a meeting at Acol village hall. What good is that going to do?

Anonymous said...

Come along Tim and Steve, and find out!

Anonymous said...

I see that the Flying Mouth in Westgate is trying to say that the airport's closure is all down to the local, and current, TDC administration. In his view, it's all Labour's fault.

While I realise that it suits him, given his present standing in the community, to try to make party political capital out of this, I doubt anyone will believe him.

The airport has struggled, been threatened, and been sold, under mostly Tory administrations in the past. Different commercial operators have tried to operate sheduled flights from there and failed. The great private sector, that is, not the maligned public sector.

The Distirct Council, and the County Council, are bit players in this. They can make noises to encourage buyers and oerators, and they can inject pump-priming funds, but the absence of a long-term operator signals that the airport is simply not an attractive prospect. It is not a goer as a fully commercial airport.

Personally, I think that's sad. An unpoipular view maybe, but I would have liked to see it operate successfully. But it's lack of sttraction commercially is its problem. Blaming one political party or another is just cheap political point-scoring.

Anonymous said...

Wow, 2:08 really IS Steve Higgins judging by his rambling, spelling and the time of day! Just got back from the pub Steve?

Anonymous said...

It's time for both Roger and the airport to step aside. Both represent outdated values which were given fair opportunity in their day but now it's time for modern thinking and common sense to prevail.

Anonymous said...

Why should Roger step aside when he's popular enough to still win elections? It's YOU who should step aside, loser!

Anonymous said...

If you’d like a copy of my manifesto please email me: timgarbutt@yahoo.com

Roger has failed.

Kent has failed.

Time for Change.

Anonymous said...

it would be nice to here what KLM have to say about there plans if the airport does stay open

Anonymous said...

Or hear!

Anonymous said...

Or their

Anonymous said...

Mmm, Thanet literacy at its best. Perhaps we need schools before houses.

Anonymous said...

Hear hear! Or is it here here?

John Davis said...

Just to let you know "anon", I live slap bang under the flight-path and signed the petition quite happily! I also find it quite interesting that you are prepared to use derogatory terms such as "slaktavist" (missing a "c", surely?) [sic] whilst not being prepared to reveal your identity/location!

John Davis said...

I'd be interested to know how many of you were educated/raised locally, given your profound "knowledge" of this area and its educational standards! Certainly very few of you appear to know how to identify yourselves online!

Richard Eastcliff said...

This blog has a long and proud tradition of allowing anonymous comments, Mr D. I find the anons often have interesting and insightful points to add to the debate.

For me it's a freedom of speech thing. Not only that, but many people with inside knowledge might be put at risk if they were to made to give their name, address and inside leg measurement.

It's often the case that those with weak arguments resort to the tactic of attacking comments simply because they have been made anonymously, I trust you won't be falling into that trap!