Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Separated At Birth?

Reader Samantha writes:

Has anyone else noticed the striking similarity between Ann Gloag, the Scottish millionairess who bought Manston Airport for a pound then closed it down, and Grayson Perry, the internationally acclaimed, cross-dressing artist? Are they by any chance related?

122 comments:

Still Even More Bemused Of Birchington said...

Might be the same person, never seen them in the same room together.

Anonymous said...

Grayson's make-up looks much subtler and better applied.

Anonymous said...

Apparently Ann Gloag commissioned him to create a work inspired by one of her own critics.

The Checkers Caricature

Anonymous said...

This is unfair to Grayson Perry who's a good bloke.

Anonymous said...

The Checkers caricature is spooky. Has Peter posed for Perry or the other way round?

Anonymous said...

I hate to make the comparison, but Farage and any fraggle from fraggle rock, ever seen them together? I haven't.

Solo Gays said...

I was thinking more along the lines of the female doctor who makes guest appearances on the One Show? Perhaps they all shared the same petri dish?

Anonymous said...

Evritt mixed with Minime and Donald Pleasance.

Almost any beardy councillor and elderly Rolf Harris

Anonymous said...

Moores and Macgonigal and the missing money are never seen together. ..

Anonymous said...

I see, ECR, that in other strands, you are again attracting the venomous and hysterical attention of those who form the local right-wing storm-trooping brigade. I won't run through their names - especially as they appear to have opted to post anonymously this time.

Anonymous said...

Sorry ECR off topic
Does anybody know anything about Cardys beginning work on the pleasurerama site???
Friends of Ramsgate sea front have said a few things today wondered if its going to get built after all???

Richard Eastcliff said...

Apols, 7.22pm, but I only know what you have evidently read on the FORS FB page, namely that Cardys are back on site, that they have said it will be built on by next year, and that they don't appear to be allowing TDC's inspection engineer on site either.

If anyone else has any firmer information, do let us know!

Anonymous said...

Let's hope Iris gets in gear and stops any pleasurama nonsense. Since 28th Feb it is over and needs to be cleared.

Richard Eastcliff said...

Ah, but does Iris give a tuppeny for Ramsgate? Discuss...

Anonymous said...

Who is the new Ramsgate Mayor by the way. With all the resignations TDC and RTC have fallen apart and the councillors desperate to cover up the LGA report?

Anonymous said...

One day Ramsgate will be the jewel of Thanet
Does anybody think Gloag wants a cpo as the Thanet star is saying?
Iris best be thinking of Ramsgate as it will be the place to be weather she likes it or not. But that has not stopped gale form wrecking it for years.

Anonymous said...

I would much rather see the pleasurerama site have a building on it than wait for it to be bought planned funded again its been too long already

Anonymous said...

Iris does not give a fuck about ramsgate otherwise she would not be trying to keep noise and loss making manston open.

Ahh, the joyful silence. Let's have some champers

Richard Eastcliff said...

I think you mean 'feck' there, 8.32pm. That's 50p in the swear jar, please.

Anonymous said...

Bin Air is the only flight from Lydd...to Ostend. You couldn't make it up.

Anonymous said...

Joyful silence and cleaner air when the MODFire station closes too...

Anonymous said...

How many more times, there is no airport to save, it closed weeks ago, in reality it was shut for business before that and was just clearing the decks, the government don't want it, no private investors wanted it until gale spoke to some spives, no airlines cargo or otherwise care, and the davis report was the last straw, it has lost enough money to fill the runway over the years, and TDC want to buy it either with or without other investors money, what does that tell you of our Cllrs and officers, other than they shouldn't run a shopping trolley round a supermarket let alone a council, everything is being sold off on site, its a brown field development site now. Any incistance ftom IrisJohnston and her cabinet and officers Mcgonigal Homer and clan, that Iit has a future as an airport, shows there incompetence, and lack of ability to move on they keep thanet dragged back, you wonder how much better off we would be without them, they should stop giving stock to all the fields if its not an airport its nothing fools, and get on with improving thanet including Ramsgate and villiges for a change, not everything is about margate.

Anonymous said...

I imagine that AG is spitting blood over the claims that have been made by the pro-airport campaigners. The airport ran up massive debts in the years that it was owned by Infratil. The idea that they somehow loaded it with debt from other sources is ridiculous. The airport had enough debt to go around.

When AG bought it for £1 it was obvious that she had agreed to take on board its liabilities. We can now see the scale of what she took on and we can now see why nobody else was prepared to buy it.

All of this makes Roger Gale look a bit naïve and foolish. We were told that River Oak had offered the asking price. There wasn't an asking price because AG didn't want to sell. If there had been an asking price it would have had to be enough to cover her liabilities. Presumably it was politically expedient to pretend that there was a realistic prospect of a deal?

Anyway, the key thing about all of this is that it knocks on the head any notion that the airport can be the subject of a CPO. If TDC were to CPO the land, AG would be entitled to claim compensation for the liabilities which she took on. Whilst she owns the land she can realistically hope to recover her losses and make a profit. If the land is taken away she cannot.

I can't see the courts siding with TDC when the only excuse for making a CPO is that a handful of nutty sycophants are emotionally wedded to a loss-making business, which has been closed down because it has no realistic chance of making a profit.

Anonymous said...

Iris who is Iris? TDC, KCC Gale and old Shifty do not give feck for Ramsgate.

Anonymous said...

Spot on 9:09
If TDC buy it and lease it they have to do so at market rate under state aid rules, they cant let Riversoak have it on the cheap. So, if Riversoak run it as an airport and fail TDC are then stuck with it. If they then dispose of it no doubt AG will slam them for compensation.

The only good outcome is for the airport to reverse 15 years woeful performance and suddenly become a commercial success. I think it is only the most deluded of the tubby T shirt wearers that would believe that actually could happen.
Marksman

Anonymous said...

Well, even discounting the appalling spelling and literacy amply sprinkled around these comments, there is not much of a cohesive case here other than Iris and others could not give a 'feck' about Ramsgate.

To summarise, Manston is closed but Anne now needs a CPO to recover her losses. Pleasurama reverted to TDC in February, but the construction company are back on site building the originally planned flats. The local right wing mafia are attacking Richard on other threads. On top, good old know it all, Tim, cannot see the courts siding with the CPO - well he would know, wouldn't he?

Anonymous said...

No airport. No houses. Clean up the Manston pollution.

Probably more jobs in clean up than the airport produced.

Anonymous said...

Marksman, just love the way you refer to others as tubby T shirt wearers. Obviously you have not glanced in any shop windows lately as you pass by.

Anonymous said...

1:32 think you have me confused with someone else - thats why I post as Marksman

Anonymous said...

The Manstophiles are all currently tweeting Boris #askboris perpetuating all the myths - longest runway, planes fly straight out to sea etc etc get on Twitter and put the facts in front of him

Anonymous said...

Don't think so, 1:41, for even as Marksman you are still fat.

Anonymous said...

One Manstophile is standing outside the terminal waving a KCC flag at the passing traffic. Lots of cars are honking their horns, but they are then leaning out of the window and shouting "w*nk*r". I wonder of the gentleman concerned actually works for TDC?

There is a large white plane on the apron with a gaggle of vehicles around it. They seem to be readying it for flight. Presumably they've been given a special permit to fly it out.

Anonymous said...

Cardy on site at Pleasurama? When? It's still boarded up today.

Cars on the promenade though - one of them a TDC dustcart and a car parked next to the toilets. Can't they get out and walk and why haven't the police ticketed or clamped them.

Hardly a tourist towns with cars on the prom.

Anonymous said...

Boris Island is rejected and so is Manston. The manstoners have forgotten that airport jobs wouldn't be required until the site is redeveloped many months and years hence....

Some of them may get construction jobs to build houses but we don't need houses and the site is polluted - again many months of cleanup...

Anonymous said...

Well why don't you correct them then 2:06?

Anonymous said...

So we have Carter and Gale and Clive and now Iris all meeting with Gloag in the last 4 months but no minutes or details of what they discussed?

Gale's "deal" with Freudmann and Riveroaks is looking wafer-thin except giving him the appearance of having done something.

Anonymous said...

Cardy on site at Pleasurama only sorting out water for tunnels I think. But maybe they will finish building it by next year according to the person who spoke to them yesterday.

Anonymous said...

3:54, just because you have not seen any minutes does not mean that none were produced. In any case, some meetings are informal, ground sounding rather than the subject of formal minute taking.

In any event, what exactly is your point, if you have one?

By the way, loved the bit about the car drivers shouting 'wank**' out at Manston and then, seconds later you are down the sea front complaining about the unclamped cars. You sure get about and in double quick time.

You are not Ramsgate's answer to the caped crusader by any chance?

Anonymous said...

2:45 there shouldn't be any flights. There is no CAA permit for the airport. Sounds very illegal.

Do you have a photo or registration number etc? Have the Police been informed?

Richard Eastcliff said...

I think I'm right in saying the CAA can grant temporary licences for the occasional flight, 4.55pm. If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me.

Anonymous said...

$.55, instead of asking if someone else has done it, why do you not inform the police yourself? You become more boring with each successive comment.

Anonymous said...

5:22 the CAA can grant temporary permits to land on a motorway if needs be but shouldn't. What was the plane and was there fire cover? Were the police briefed? Why such an emergency if it did have a permit?

Anonymous said...

ECR

...CAA granted approval for members of the Manston Cult, led by their Socialist Messiah, Sir Windy Branch-Davidian Gale, to fly to the promised land. Er, Heathrow actually, on a fact-finding mission.

Most have never actually been to an airport. They'll LOVE it!!!!!

Anonymous said...

It's not illegal to ferry out an aircraft from an aerodrome with no ATC or Fire Cover, the CAA would grant a permit for each unlicensed movement.

Anonymous said...

Now listen here #savemanston buffoons for here cometh a lesson in how to use social media effectively. Listen at the back...

Firstly, do not target BoJo. He wants an airport called 'Boris Island', colloquially anyway.

Secondly, the Government have spoken. They want your hallowed ground to be 'Brown'

Thirdly. You've attacked the person you want on-side. Ann will not listen to you now.

Boy George, Minty and Brenda. FFS?

Tomorrow's little Tweet-Up will expose your true local support. Anything less than 2 or 3,000 will be a PR disaster.

Hope the bikers and Morris dancers turn up.

We'd be more impressed with a cavalcade of experienced airport professionals with real money in their pockets. Still, maybe the ex-druggie, ex-convict is more your style. Boy George. Fancy that. Is he coming down?

Anonymous said...

It is the Ann Barnes fly on the wall documentary tonight team. Ch4.

Widely anticipated to be embarrassing to Kent, its police authority history under Ms Barnes as Chair and to the current PCC set up.

No doubt the leading Manstonophile Simon will watch with interest. I hope he has checked out revd Thomas Bayes and his system of analysis used in Intelligence work.

You could read up on it or take the potted history. If you take a position (Such as "It is all conspiracy theory") and later a fact comes to light very unhelpful to your cause, a rational person registers surprise that they are almost certainly wrong. The more surprised the more such a person amends the position.

An irrational person either ignores the fact or denies it.

Then if a series of facts are iteratively revealed to such an irrational person it becomes Kiplingesque. Logically predicate their finish by their start.

And thus it it is with our Simes.

He started by blaming Ann Barnes for all ills leading to his interview under caution.

The Bayesian fact to emerge tonight may be that Ann Barnes lift don't reach the top floor. The fact then remains that Kent Police at Chief constable level, according to Simes, nonetheless are so respectful of her judgment in policing matters they acquiesced to her petulant demand to put Simes in his place.

Matters re Manston and Ann Barnes really begin 1973 with pipework and then 1975 with security warnings re a Thanet chap, consummate DHSS con man, who obtained information at Top Security UK Eyes Only re Manston.

When in 76 some ballsy DFLs working in Thanet DHSS caught IRA in a sophisticated Thanet based DHSS fraud naturally the expert benefits con man was a cross referral line of inquiry to Met Police.

These security warnings were raised at the time of the viability survey for Pegwell and off shore terminal tanker unloading to support conversion of Manston to an oil refinery. A survey that reported viability of the project.

I gather it was later in 70s that SBS appear to have been involved in the survey dive on Richard Montgomery. As far as I know they were lead response for terrorist threat to off shore oil rigs and pipeline unloading so the Manston and Pegwell survey was about contingency planning as well as commercial viability.

There's some Bayesian facts to surprise or otherwise Richard.

The period could not be more Thanet for a laugh. It was one of the DFL ex military chaps working for DHSS who took a leave of absence to work on the tunnelling project. He had previously worked on Alton Water Reservoir tunnelling with Southern Irish gangs. But local Thanet labourers on the Manston tunneling recognised the man from DHSS and none of the Thanet workers turned up next morning as they thought it was a dole fiddling inquiry ! (that deserves an exclamation mark William surely ?)

I was only reminiscing last year with an ex SBS man and I put him on touch with Mike Barker lead FOI man on Richard Montgomery risk. Gotta do me bit for old Blighty.




Anonymous said...

6:38 Manston is not an aerodrome it's a field now.

What was the plane being ferried you say? No harm in the police taking a look and checking the permit. Do you know the permit number and signature?

Anonymous said...

6.38

What staggers me is that there's actually a plane left that can get off of the ground at the Brownfield site.

Now before I buy a few units off-plan, can you airport-botherers clear the rest of your hobbyist-crap from the site, including that Rusting Red Polish Skoda Fighter Jet that the owner tipped by the road years ago, safe in the knowledge that no-one in charge would give a sh*t.



Anonymous said...


#savemanstonbuffoons

love it.

Anonymous said...

6:58, What's the point of posting a message on a blog for the mentally ill when it's addressed to those on twitter?

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

It's going to be a nice day tomorrow so parents have a choice for the last day of half-term; take your kids to the beach or take them to a boring, waste-of-time demonstration. It's fine to waste your own time on a pointless demonstration but you aren't a very good parent if you drag your kids along when there's something far more interesting and exciting they'd rather be doing.

Anonymous said...

Ferry flight permit is granted and it will legally fly out before next week.

Anonymous said...

8.04pm

Can't argues with the content though can you?

Re the Hashtag# I think you've proved why ;-))))) x

Anonymous said...

If airports are so wonderful for the economy and jobs, why did residents of ashford, shepway, medway, all protest against boris island and Lydd, why do residents near Heathrow and Gatwick no want expansion, if Manston, is so viable, why has it failed and been in dept and financial disaster under every previous owner, jobs another fairytale, 144 jobs, mostly part time and unskilled. Economically esential to local area, 2 weeks closed and thanet has not fallen into an abyss, in fact its attracting visitors that pethaps would have gone elswhere, national importance, Gale crap, cannot do anything with the site, wrong, the investors are falling over themselves to create employment and homes on the site, schools doctors, and hundreds of ideas which will increase turnover of local business creatd jobs, and contribute to tdcs coffers. It is not an airport, it is a brown field development site.

Anonymous said...

8.04pm

Can't argues with the content though can you?

Re the Hashtag# I think you've proved why ;-))))) x

Anonymous said...

Hankys ready for whatever sob stories the T shirt wearers trot out tomorrow - and Thanet Extra repeat in full.

Marksman

Anonymous said...

What plane is it and the permit number so the police know what to check?

Anonymous said...

And so it drones on with its endless moronic utterings about Manston, illegal flights and a world full of idiots, excluding, of course, himself. Mind you, as one of the alleged buffoons, I must say he probably does more than anyone else to keep the Manston issue in the frame.

Anonymous said...

Dear Ann,

Could you please tell me where I can place a deposit down to purchase a new executive home at the new Manston Garden Village?

Love

A DFL

P.s. I think you should name the streets after local airport supporters. Some ideas;

Gale Circus. Just goes round and round and never gets anywhere

Ezeikel Street. Should not be a straight road.

Latchford Close. Bungalows I think.

Gregory Way. All doors to be painted red. No, blue. No, pink. Definately not pink. Maybe purple.....

Anonymous said...

Interesting in Gazette Dutch Ambassador visiting Ramsgate ahead of Van Gogh Anniversary 2015.

What's happening with DDay and Dunkirk in the next week or so? Tourism dept failing.

Also doublehatters being removed at TDC.

Anonymous said...

10:26, They're reopening the WW2 air raid tunnels and having a big opening day event.

Anonymous said...

Mcgonigal Avenue: 0% deposit.

Moores Road: funnily enough 0% too.

Anonymous said...

Letsbe Avenue. Kent Police investigation into Manston

Anonymous said...

1:02 nice to hear about it now but a bit late and a bit weak? What opening day event? Where are the Little Ships? £60M in tax to look into a tunnel?

Anonymous said...

Buchanan Grove. Very close to Gale Circus.

Infratil Way. Next to the cemetery.

Anonymous said...

Roger Latchford Crescent. Muslims especially welcome.

Anonymous said...

Parish appointment of their own volunteer constables

There is a rumour that Minster is so jarred off with Kent Plod and their PCC Ann Barnes they are looking at being the first Parish since 1936 to appoint their own volunteer constables each with the full powers of a constable.

Go Minster well done go for it.

You read it here first folks.

Anonymous said...

Carter Close. Planes don't fly over it

Anonymous said...

144 jobs that are mostly part time and unskilled ? Utter rubbish, I don't class air traffic controllers, engineers, Firefighters, mechanics and security as unskilled.
Ramsgate attracting visitors......it's half term......of course there are more visitors......

Anonymous said...

The crowds are gathering outside the terminal for tonight's demonstration. I just drove past and three people were there. Honk if you think the airport should be closed.

Anonymous said...

Manstoners demo at Manston: about 30 people in their photos? 50? 70?

Cheggers reckons a thousand. They all look so old or young kids: only about 20 that could actually work at the airport.

Anonymous said...

3oo A good amount of people in Thanet have the sense to stay at home well done.
As for the save manston group please let sleeping dogs lie. There will always be the land that used to have an airport on it. But its time you just understood Gloag is not going to sell. TDC will not go ahead with a CPO as they will never get one.
She will build houses but this is where we can all have a say and that will be legal way (unlike a CPO) to make sure we get large houses with rich people who can spend their wealth in the local towns.

Anonymous said...

Seriously embarrassing protest at the airport this evening. They even used some kids to carry a banner saying: "Save Manston so that my daddy can come home from Afghanistan." Are there no depths to which this lot will not sink? Nevertheless, glad to see one of the organisers being realistic and admitting on camera that the airport was not likely to open again.

Anonymous said...

Now Channel 4 has done a fair old job of exposing the PCC as a fool it may be necessary to evaluate the cost of purchasing her folly for 13 years since first she joined Kent Police Authority.

Very sad that in her time there have been 4 Chief constables. One left suddenly just as General De Chasterlian was seeking authority to investigate Kent Police. One left just after a Judicial Review File, challenging him, was denied access to a judge by person unknown stealing it from Registry of Royal Courts of Justice.

One with the most eloquent body language (My wife calls them mind bullets) had his retirement do filmed in all its apathy by Channel 4.

And now it is a sad truth. The County Cllrs and Chief constables she protected from disciplinary process are nowhere to be seen in her defence Happy to have benefitted from her folly they won't emerge to deny she is the fool.

Ch 4 are aware that the implication could be that her 13 years of service with KPA and as PCC may be subject of examination by Theresa May's Judge led inquiry.

Especially the 1998 libel case at which KPA gave allegedly perjured evidence. She protected that case from being re-examined in KPA standards process.

But it now seems clear if KPA had told the full truth as sworn on oath then the High Court judge would have sussed DURING Kent Police handling of Lawrence Inquiry that they were case compromised. BEFORE MacPherson reported Feb 99.

My money is on a Theresa May cover up because I doubt she wants David Cameron's deployment alongside Dr David Kelly 1989 denying the incoming democratic govt of South Africa the nuclear weapons of the apartheid regime.

Thanet dealings with South Africa appear to have been Thor, diamond importing, mercenary despatch and weapons from apartheid regime to UDA !



Anonymous said...

So was there no Gale, Sandys or that Ukip woman at Manston yesterday. Election gone - politicians run away from failure.

Anonymous said...

So,

After all the noise they managed a paltry 350 protestors at the Brownfield site yesterday.

sandys tweeted an apology for not being there and took some flak for saying that 'a constituent' had a problem she had to deal with. That didn't go down at all well!

No show from Gale?

The Ukip woman tweeted them and said that she wouldn't be there.

Boy George was otherwise engaged.

Moores tried a bit of word-play but succeeded only in confusing the bejesus out of everyone there.

Bear in mind that 140 should have been ex-employees, probably a family member or two and it proves that there is no support for the SaveManston group around here.

Why don't they apply for jobs at one of the London Airports, after all, they keep banging on about how close Manston is to London.

MANSTON HAD TO GO. NO CPO.

Unknown said...

When it comes to boring repetition some anon on this blog takes the biscuit. By all means state your case, but over and over again becomes just a bit tedious. Might also help if you stuck to facts rather than the fiction that is your own imagination. Even the BBC placed the crowd at nearly 1,000 and good to see speakers from differing parties supporting the airport.

I love all the Ann Gloag mind readers, for, whilst our resident expert here reckons she is going to build houses, elsewhere the one with the hat reckons she is seeking to force TDC to buy her out with a CPO. They cannot both be right.

Anonymous said...

The Lydd airport spokesperson said on local BBC news today that once development work is completed there and passenger numbers are up to 500,000 there will be 150 new jobs at Lydd.

Anonymous said...

One to be aware of ECR

Anonymous said...

Epps, you really are a desperate old man. You accuse people of mind-reading yet you spent half your time erroneously namng Anons.

Even you couldn't be bothered to turn up yesterday.

There were no more than 350 there yesterday. I drove past. More than Gale & Sandys could be bothered to do.

You are thankfully retiring soon but in the meantime, remember, you are a public -servant. Your attitude is symptomatic of the poor quality of Thanet councillors across the board. You will not be missed.

Anonymous said...

Someone in the gazette says no bus station on the site, noise mechanics, pollution, really you mean much less noise than a plane, mechanics equals jobs, pollution, nothing is mor poluting than an aircraft. Then you have someone stating it never had investment and it is viable, wrre have you been for 20 years, promises blown, no jobs, no profits, after all the companies got into debt trying to make it work. Get your facts right.

MANSTON HAD TO GO NO CPO.

Anonymous said...

150 maximum at the airport today and 1 in 30 car horns in support, Fact. Its gone and WILL NOT be returning.

Anonymous said...

Wee Willy moans about 'boring repitition'.

Satire is dead.

Anonymous said...

If you just drove past then you wouldn't have seen all the people as they would've been hidden from view. I was at the gates doing a head count, and made it 1,152.

Anonymous said...

By my estimate more people apparently turned up to the protest to count how many were there than those who were protesting. Well done you sad little people who belittle those who are trying to make something happen at Manston.

Ramsgate is now a dormitory town which is why nobody is there, they are all working in London on wages most of us can only dream of, having ensured a good night sleep by closing a major employer in Thanet.

Anonymous said...

Of course W Epp is wrong again and the anons could be right. TDC could go for a CPO on part of the airport and leave the north area for the owner to develop. No doubt he will answer this with his normal abusive style rather than with a civil tongue that we should expect of local councillors.

Anonymous said...

What gates? There aren't any gates.

Anonymous said...

BBC say 300 save manston say 500 then they say 1000 now its gone up to 1152 by the end of the week it will be 100,000 and by the end of the year they will be talking about the great gathering of manston of 100,000,000 people some who cut off there hands in protest others though themselves under cars who did not beep in support

Anonymous said...

The airport has never been a major employer in thanet - approximate one third of an average tescos .

Anonymous said...

Never let the facts get in the way of a rebuttal 8:15 pm. Tesco has 4811 stores worldwide with 472000 employees. I make that just over 98 staff per store, on average. Correct me if I'm wrong but Manston had about 150 staff. I doubt Westwood Cross Tesco Extra has that many, and even if it does that would make it above average. And name any single employer that has more than 150 employees in Thanet? Apart from supermarkets, which don't really count, I can't think of one, though I am prepared to stand corrected. Perhaps TDC has more but their wages are paid by the taxpayer too, ultimately.

Anonymous said...

Can anybody help please, I do not know if it a theological or political gift and want to know how I go about and who to contact regarding the following.
1. Declaring the 15th May saint Anns day.
2. Highest hounor which can be given Dame, Lady, Duchess, for example Duchess of Manston and the surrounding areas.
Which people do I have to speak to, I already have 50.000 signatures on a petion in support, and we are meeting next Friday evening at manstons former airfield site to demonstrate in support of giving Ann Gloag the freedom of Thanet. Hope to have press there and TV, perhaps if the rumours are true suppirt from, eastenders actor's, adam ant, bono, lilly allen, and say it quietly but Gale might be switching camps too.

Anonymous said...

The 150 intent on keeping an empty site, as it will not open as an airport ever again, will have in no doubt criticised A Gloag for being heartless in doing something all previous owners knew had to be done, and closed it, MANSTON HAD TO GO NO CPO, I wonder if these humanitarians fighting to keep a failed business are really humanitarian in nature or just nimbys as it does not effect them either way, I wonder if the planes flew over broadstairs, kingsgate, westgate, birchington, whether they would be writing in support to the paper, I also wonder if these lovely people careabout the 50.000 people effected in south Thanets Towns and villages, or whether the suppirting Cllrs do, think not. It is closed, it is now a development brown field site.

Anonymous said...

Save the former airfield, TDC and its CLLRS, MPS, read Kent on Sunday 1st June artical Mick Davis, Broadstairs regarding Manston, tells you all you need to know, bottom line, to the point facts only.
THE TRUTH, anyone disagreeing with his statement is entitled to but beyond any doubt deluded and unable to see beyond there own opinions.

Anonymous said...

I thought Moores would have been off flying his teeny tiny banner-towing plane pursuing his hate campaign against Ann Barnes - or rather a campaign on behalf of unnamed others!!!

Anonymous said...

7.11 read what you wrote, what major employer, and if some people in south thanet travel to work, is it a bad thing to want to work for better rates than those paid in thanet, to bring money back to thanet which was earned elsewhere so money is coming into the area rather than being re circulated, you are an example of the small minded petty little thaneter, there is life outside of thanet and without a failed airfield in manston.
MANSTON HAD TO GO NO CPO.

Anonymous said...

I see 43 acres at the Brownfield are up for sale through Savills

Unknown said...

5:11, I was there and you evidently were not. Presumably we have to regard your estimate of numbers more accurate than that of the BBC.

As for me being 'old' well everybody is some sort of old, like five years old, or fifty years old or even, in extreme cases, 100 years old. It is quite irrelevant to ones capabilities, but in your case you simply use it as an insult. Suggest you remember, whoever you are, that you are growing older all the time also. Time to start doing so graciously without the spite and insults.

Also, I do not guess who you are. I know!

Anonymous said...

'Though' themselves under cars? Is this some kind of mind projection art? Not untypical of the standards of our favourite anti-Manston creep.

Anonymous said...

Anon at 8:32am In the first instance you should write to the Pope with evidence of two miracles. The only problem is that in order to achieve sainthood you need to be dead.

If you wish to recommend someone for an honour then I suggest you write to the Queen or the Prime Minister, though a large wad of used £50 notes under the padlock on the gates to Manston might secure some sort of nobility, just let me know when it's there.

With regard to the freedom of Thanet, that might be a little more difficult to arrange since nobody seems to be in charge at the moment, and in any case if Scotland becomes independent in September then granting freedom to a foreigner would not be a good idea.

Anonymous said...

9:59, the land for sale with Savills is on the pre-existing Manston Business Park, not the airfield, and has been up for sale even longer than the airfield was by Infratil. Surely that should tell you something, but, in case it doesn't, let us spell it out. There is already loads of land at Manston for development that nobody wants. What makes you think they will be queuing up to buy the airfield land?

Anonymous said...

(:25, perhaps you would like to tell us what exactly Ann Barnes has done for Kent Police except help to make them look a laughing stock. Maybe you think a van marked 'Ann Force One' is the right kind of professional image for a Police Commissioner or, then again, is it the self opinionated expression of a rather silly woman.

Anonymous said...

Wee Willy Flip-Flop Fun earlier this morning.....

"Whoever you are"

"I do not guess who you are"

" I know who you are"


All in one post Cllr Epps. Bravo!

Anonymous said...

saw a Manstonphile begging for signatures on a petition at the bucket and spade run in Ramsgate earlier, so this is how they dupe the public from far and wide with no interest into signing!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the advise on the queries of knighthoods, sainthood, and what to do with wads of 50's, freedom of the town not an option either, how can we show our appreciation to Ann, what about making her leader and chief executive of the Council here in Thanet, then we will have a person with competence and real vision to take Thanet forward, or does this not work for any reason, perhaps ask Ann to stand as MP for South Thanet? Ann Gloag will always be a Saint to many thousands of people.

Anonymous said...

Even the Thanet Extra's online edition didn't bother mentioning Friday's 'gathering' .

Like the MP's, they know they're no chance of a CPO.

Anonymous said...

Holiday flights take off from Kent airport:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-27635401

Sorry guys, it's Lydd.

Anonymous said...

What is Lydd doing right that Manston did so wrong?

Anonymous said...

Or watch the Manston plane spotters video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDvlyB72Pxk#t=45

complete with obligatory shot of piece of paper blowing or rather being kicked in front of the camera in an empty hanger and yet more inaccuracies about it being the longest runway in the country. Proof if it was needed that creativity is not a requirement for a job in aviation.

Anonymous said...

"What is Lydd doing right that Manston did so wrong?"

Lydd is a lovely airport and people trust them because they tell the truth. They don't claim to have the longest runway in Britain when they don't, and they don't pretend that they are a London airport when they are nowhere near London.

The owners of Lydd have gone through a protracted process to get planning permission for their expansion and, along the way, have done everything required of them to mitigate the impact of their activities on the environment and surrounding area. This contrasts with another airport in the South-East which has never had planning permission and has not done an environmental impact assessment. When operators and passengers are deciding where to fly from they are apt to look more favourably on an airport which has a good environmental reputation.

The operators like Lydd because it has stable finances, a long-term growth plan and a track-record of implementing their plan. This contrasts with another airport in the South-East which claimed that it would create thousands of jobs and ended up employing less than 150.

The most important thing that Lydd has got right is it's market research. They have identified types of activities and routes which will make money and have focussed on those. In contrast, another airport in the South-East tried to pretend it was all things to all people and failed all round.

In summary I suppose you'd conclude that Lydd has not been built up to be something that it isn't and has not been mismanaged.

Anonymous said...

OMG The tears (of laughter) are streaming down my face. Just watched the video clip posted on the Save Manston web-site. If ever you needed evidence that their entire argument is driven by emotion rather than any kind of business logic or concern for the area, it's here in full colour. They even finish by stating that "aviation is not just a job, pastime or a hobby.....it's a family." No wonder they all look inbred.

Anonymous said...


Anyone seen night-time one of some bloke dressed-up in a red guards tunic, like one of those London tourist bear gifts, playing a trombone outside the brownfield site?

It is at once tragic, creepy and yet so very, very Manston.

(Don't let your kids see it...)

I think it might be Acker Bilk Gale in disguise.

Still Even More Bemused Of Birchington said...

Did I watch the right video Anon 4:56 pm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDvlyB72Pxk#t=45
No voiceover, just music, some pictures of aeroplanes and a few captions at the end. No mention of runways, shortest/longest/widest to be seen, or heard.

Once again we get Manstonophobes dealing in deliberate falsehoods to try and prove their point. Where's your video defending your argument. A bit like the Labour party claiming that the VAT increase has added £420 to the average groceries bill. In order for that to happen somewhere in the region of £23,000 would have to be spent on groceries each year, and a lot of food is free of VAT.

Anonymous said...


Good to see the Daily Telegraph including Manston in its list of 'Abandoned Airports' today.

Lovely piece about Lydd though!

Anonymous said...

7:23 the comment about Manston being the longest runway is in the comments to the Manston video. We do not need a video defending the anti-Manston argument as it is no longer an airport it is shut, in case you had not noticed.

Anonymous said...


Longest piece of hard-core on the Island?

Couldn't they chop it into special-edition pieces a-la-Wembley turf?

Or make coasters out of it?

There is a problem however. Many political careers are buried under there.

Anonymous said...

Yes 5:12 all our politicians told us Manston was the key driver of regeneration with thousands of jobs. They've been proven wrong repeatedly. They have done nothing to replace it. Resignations are required.

Still Even More Bemused Of Birchington said...

4:59 pm. I do have an identity, and it's not 7:23, unlike you, who could be anybody.

Sure, the contributor at 4:56 pm, also anon, did mention an inaccuracy, suggesting that the fact about the runway was part of the video, when in actual fact there is no mention of the runway in the video at all, hence my point. So an inaccuracy there too.

Anonymous said...

"@bbcsoutheast Kent PCC Ann Barnes says she's "supporting" Youth Commissioner Kerry Boyd after claims she's in a relationship with a married ex-Councillor"

Who's the councillor?

Still Even More Bemused Of Birchington said...

Poor research 09:05. Check out http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-27692723.

Anonymous said...

If the former airfield site at Manston has closed, which it has, surely any CPO will also have to consider, opening an airfield there, there currently isn't one, its a field, so it would have to go through the same national scrutiny to see if an airfield could be allowed there, and demonstrate viability, while also assessing environmental impact to the area at every level including considering the 60.000 people to be effected in a detrimental way, as currently no planes fly 500 feet over there homes, schools, homes for elderly and other business. would you place an airfield there in modern day, short answer after all discussions. NO. not if you are responsible and have any interest in safeguarding your area and residents.

Still Even More Bemused Of Birchington said...

Houses were built there after the airfield was open, surely the same criteria should have applied then anon 4:53 pm.