Opportunity Knocks For Wacko Worrow

By all that's wrong in the world of entertainment! Forgive my French, but wtf is this? Having a quick online gander through the excellent yourfannitinnit earlier, I spotted a story about the Michael Jackson tribute talent competition held over in Birchington last Friday.

Now don't misunderstand me. I'm not undermining this well-intentioned attempt to do something for the kiddiwinks. And the untimely demise of the King of Pop provided an ideal excuse to get our tubby teenagers exercising in a multicultural environment, as given the nature of the subject matter it clearly was of no import whatsoever whether any of them were black or white. No, what really brought up the All-Bran was the spectacle of 'independent' Birchington parish councillor and Latchford wannabe John Worrow strutting his very limited stuff on stage like some poor man's David Brent!

You'd have thought after all the kerfuffle the other week over the 'Mini-Me' episode he'd want to keep these kind of talent-free moves to himself, but clearly he was on tit autopilot. Compared with the dignified demeanour of the event's other organiser Ralph 'Mr Ramsgate' Hoult, who appears to have been content with some clapping and a gentle wolling of his Rs, I'd say our John made a right Cameron of himself!

Anyhow, as my dear departed showbiz godfather Hughie used to say, it's make your mind up time folks. Click on the link below and go to around 14 minutes in. You'll have to wait a while for it to load, as yourfannitinnit's online TV isn't the sharpest tool in the IT box. But I promise you, it's worth the wait!

Wacko Worrow on yourkenttv

Falling Standards

Ahem. Yes. Well I realise 'falling standards' could equally apply to my last item. I blame the Stella! But no. What I'm referring to is the above headline on Birchington parish councillor John Worrow's website. And it ain't to do with the fact it makes the average Daily Mail headline look like the snappiest writing since Salman Rushdie's 'naughty but nice' tag for cream cakes.

The story so far. Ramsgate Labour councillor Mark Nottingham reproduces a description on his blog of an airport meeting at which his correspondent describes John Worrow as dressed similarly to, and voting identically to, Tory grandee Roger Latchford OBE 'appearing to be a Mini-Me of his mentor'. This prompts JW to report MN to the standards people. However, after further sniping between our two elected representatives on MW's blog and Chippy Tone's Bignews Margate JW graciously withdraws his complaint on the grounds that it would be a senseless waste of council tax.

Now it transpires the carpet cleaner from Birchington has come up with his own tit-for-tat nickname for the spin doctor from Ramsgate - Pinocchio! In a rant on his Minnis Bay website, he accuses the Labourite of 'spending much of his time in Europe' and adds:

[He] appears to spend too much time on his Blackberry sending back his own edited style of second hand propaganda to Thanet. It would seem that he thinks having a blog to attack people in Thanet is better than being in Thanet.'

Oooh, get her! Seriously, whilst it's undoubtedly entertaining to watch our councillors publicly bash each other over the head with their handbags, it's probably best to take the Mandelson approach and do it behind closed doors with the lights out!

Worrow-bashing on Cllr Nottingham's blog
Nottingham-bashing on Cllr Worrow's blog
Worrow-and-Nottingham-bashing on Chippy Tone's blog

Councillor's 'Mini-Me' Moment - World Photo Exclusive!

by Isle of Thanet Gazunder Political Editor Oscar Sillikwezchun

Caught on camera - the moment the island's chattering classes have all been chattering about!

Thanks to an eagle-eyed Gazunder reader's mobile phone snap, we can now exclusively reveal that 'independent' Birchington Parish councillor John Worrow did in fact ape Tory grandee Roger Latchford OBE in voting against referring county council chief Paul Carter to the Standards Board at a turbulent meeting of the Manston consultative committee recently. Carter was a no-show at the meeting to discuss night flights, and committee members voted to report the ruddy-faced Conservative to the political watchdogs.

Worrow was subsequently described by a correspondent on Labour councillor Mark Nottingham's blog as 'shadowing Cllr. Latchford at all public events, (he) watched carefully to see his Thanet District Council representative's reaction before voting. Dressed in a very similar fashion to Roger Latchford, he appeared to some to be a 'mini-me' of his mentor', a reference to Dr Evil's diminutive clone in the Austin Powers movies.

That comment led to Cllr Worrow in turn reporting Cllr Nottingham to the standards people, a move which he has subsequently withdrawn.

Meanwhile Thanet Council chief executive Richard Samuel is drawing up a code of conduct for Thanet bloggers. Thanet Labour leader Clive Hart has also pitched in, saying he will not tolerate cyber bullies.

Will John continue to shadow Roger? Will Mark discover Richard's jottings? Will Clive get a new hair-do? These questions - and many others - will be answered in the next episode of 'Thanet'!

[That's enough politics - Ed]