KCC Turns Off Kent TV

Kent County Council have hit the off button on their controversial internet TV service Kent TV.

Kent TV launched in 2007 for an initial investment of £1.4m and had annual running costs of £600,000. KCC's ruddy-faced Tory leader Paul Carter said the channel was no longer a priority in 'different and difficult economic times', adding 'Kent TV has proved itself to be a brave and bold innovation and we have learned a great deal from it. It has provided a source of practical, useful information for residents'.

The channel was run for KCC by Sir Bob Geldof's company Ten Alps, who will no doubt be, er, sad to be pushed away from their previously solid grasp on the public tit. Still, look on the bright side. The experience they've gained running this sorry soap at our £2m+ expense has no doubt done them no harm in their bid to run ITV's north east regional news, or their recent award of a two year contract to run a, um, internet TV channel for the North East Development Agency!

Click here to read about Kent TV on BBC News website
Click here to read about Ten Alps and the north east

Does Bob Like Margate?

Reader Simon writes:

Dear ECR, I thought you'd like first dibs at these snaps I took of Sir Bob Geldof turning on Margate's Christmas lights earlier. There were hundreds of people there, Bob did quite a good job of sending himself and Margate up, calling it his 'penance' for describing the place as a 'dump', and asking whether the 'illuminations' had been bought from Woolies. Needless to say, Sandy was never more than a few feet from him, trying his hardest to bathe in some sort of reflected glory! There's also a short clip of his speech for you.

Bob's Not A Turn-On

With speculation rife as to which civic dignitaries will get to hob-nob with Bob when he comes to turn on the Christmas lights in Margate tomorrow (He's still coming, is he? - Ed.), I notice the news hasn't gone down that well with online readers of the music biz bible NME. I suspect his testimonials will be glowing red hot when he reads the two comments so far, viz:

He really is the most talentless, tedious prick. Just remind us again what you're supposed to be famous for Bob, apart from being a great self-publicist?

And

Bob Geldof = Muppet. Along with his idiot daughter, peaches!!

Meanwhile I hear bets are being taken as to what the track-suited, pit bull tugging burghers of Margate will be chanting at the ceremony. Favourites so far are:

You're uglier than us!

Just give us your fucking money!

And

Bob, Bob, Bob
On, On, On
Bob, Bob, Bob
Off, Off, Off
Bob, Bob, Bob
On, Off, On, Off!

Click here to read Bob story in NME

Does Bob Know It's Christmas Time At All?

More mutterings and mumblings have reached the old Eastcliff shell-like over Sir Gob Beldof's sudden and unexpected withdrawal from the grand Margate Christmas lights turn-on.

Sir Gob was due to perform the ceremonial switch-on this Saturday, as penance for intimating back in January that Margate was 'ugly', but had to pull out due to a last minute appointment in Qatar, according to his 'people'. Or was that an appointment to buy a new guitar? Or was he suffering from catarrh?

Er, a-n-y-hoo, it now seems that security might have been the real issue. Apparently his advisors became rather nervous over suggestions that an old-stylee lantern parade might have been held as part of the ceremony and that the former Boomtown Rats frontman and Saviour of the Third World might have had to mingle with, um, ordinary people. Which, it seems, posed an unacceptable security risk. Hence the no-show.

Meanwhile many of the decos that he would have turned on (presumably whilst surrounded by a 500 metre cordon sanitaire) have blown down in the winds we've had over the past few days. As the people who put them up didn't realise that we occasionally get a bit of a blow around these parts. Oh, and the Christmas tree has been lying on its side in the Old Town piazza for several days. And has been well and truly pissed on by the Margate twitterati over the weekend.

Happy Christmas Margate!

Update: Well, surprise surprise! Since I posted that earlier today, Sir Gob's people have announced that he will be making the onerous trip from Faversham to switch on the lights after all! He's going to do the honours at 4.30pm, just before he jets off to buy a new guitar. I presume his team are now satisfied that security will be up to his normal standard for visiting a third world country.

Click here to read full story on Gazunder website

Beeb Man To Light Up The Town

By Isle of Thanet Gazunder Entertainment Correspondent R Slicker

Council chiefs say they are 'delighted' to have found a replacement for Sir Bob Geldof to turn on Margate's Christmas lights this year.

Sir Gob was due to perform the ceremonial switch-on on 29 November, but has had to pull out due to another engagement. The Boomtown Rats frontman was panned back in January for referring to 'the ugliness of Margate' in an edition of Kent County Council's free newspaper Around Kent. He subsequently offered to attend the lighting-up ceremony by way of making amends.

Now Thanet Council has revealed that the BBC's former Political Editor, Andrew Marr, will do the honours. 'We're delighted to have found someone even uglier than Sir Bob, and Margate for that matter, to perform this service,' said a council spokeswoman. 'However, we will be advising parents not to allow children under the age of twelve to attend unless they are accompanied by an adult.'

Click here to read Sir Gob story on BBC website

Andrew Marr - 'even uglier than Sir Bob'

An Ugly Night In Margate

Crumbs! I see Sir Gob Beldof has been booked to turn on the Christmas illuminations in the Arsonists' Playground this year! If you recall, the soap-dodging celebrity was panned back in January for talking about 'the ugliness of Margate' in an edition of Kent County Council's free newspaper Around Kent. But in a subsequent ECR poll the tables were turned when he was voted uglier than the town he'd vilified.

Thanet Extra is reporting he'll be switching on the lights in November, presumably just after the last trader to leave has switched them off. I gather, though, that it won't be an event for the little 'uns. I mean, Sir Bob and our Sandy on the same stage? You wouldn't want to give the kids nightmares, would you!

Click here for full story in Thanet Extra

Bob Beats Margate In Ugly Dispute

The results of my latest 7 day poll are in, and it seems Sir Bob Geldof has beaten Margate in the ugly stakes by a slightly greasy hair's breadth. Here's the final tally:

Question: Which one's uglier - Margate or Sir Bob Geldof?

Sir Bob: 51% (24 votes)
Margate: 48% (23 votes)

The brouhaha over the Boomtown Rat's recent comment that Margate was 'ugly', in a council tax funded newspaper, now seems to have died down. Some commentators have even suggested inviting him to become an ambassador for the place. Who knows, despite the fact that we already fund his Ten Alps production company to the tune of £1.6m to produce the ludicrously wasteful Kent TV, perhaps he'll set up Margate Aid and demand that we all give him some more f*cking money!

Budget? Fudge It!

Noshing down the old blinis and caviar at lunchtime, I happened to catch Paul Carter, the rosy-cheeked leader of Tory Kent County Council, being interviewed on BBC local news about a looming £30m budget shortfall at County Hall. He was blaming central government, of course, but when pressed by the presenter about such profligacies as the £1.6m he's spent on Sir Bob's Kent TV he answered the question in true political fashion. That is by ignoring the question completely. I presume he would have taken the same tack if he'd been asked about the £6m wasted on 'vital' PR.

Meanwhile I see Sir Bob was lambasted in the Independent over the weekend following his ugly comments about Margate (don't forget to vote in my poll on the right). The report contained this interesting sentence:

Yet he has also contributed much to the community. Last September Geldof's television production company, Ten Alps, launched the UK's first council-funded broadband television channel.

And there was me thinking it was our 1.6 million smackers that we had contributed to him!

Margate 'Uglier Than Sir Bob' - Official

by Isle of Thanet Gazunder Architecture Editor Ian Forced-Concrete

Margate is officially uglier than Sir Bob Geldof. That's the claim of an expert group of architects and plastic surgeons who we found in the Yellow Pages earlier today.

Sir Bob, who lives near Faversham, was panned in this week's local press for talking about 'the ugliness of Margate' in a recent edition of Kent County Council's free newspaper Around Kent. But now the 78 year old pop star's opinion has been confirmed by a panel of experts.

'It's true,' said one plastic surgeon who didn't want to be named. 'All Bob needs is a nip and tuck. With Margate we would have to take the entire front off and start again from scratch.' And one leading architect, who has designed several conservatories, added: 'He's no oil painting himself, but I have to agree with him - Margate's minging!'

The former Boomtown Rats frontman, whose company Ten Alps won the contract to produce the county council's Kent TV last year, was unavailable for comment.