Poll Chance

And just for balance (Tony), here's another picture of a plane. The Wantsum Want-nots are currently ahead, I see!

Have A Go On My Enormous Poll

With two days left still to vote, my airport poll has already smashed previous records! 133 of you have voted so far, and it's neck and neck, demonstrating that there really is a rift between the Wantsum wants and want-nots.

Voting is totally anonymous, so come on, whaddya waiting for?!?!?

Count Your Blethyns

Congratulations to the lovely Brenda Blethyn, who's topped my poll to find our Greatest Living Thanetian following the sad death of Oliver Postgate. The Golden Globe winning actress and author comes (of course) from Ramsgate, and can often be seen at local events, or just shopping for gloves, here in the Millionaires' Playground.

Brenda came in well ahead of the equally lovely Dame Tracey Emin, who would have been my choice if she wasn't from Margate. Apart from me, that is. After a record breaking 89 votes, here's how it all ended up:

Question: Who's our Greatest Living Thanetian now that Oliver Postgate has passed away?

Actress Brenda Blethyn: 31% (28 votes)
Artist Dame Tracey Emin: 24% (22 votes)
Millionaire Richard Eastcliff: 15% (14 votes)
Squillionaire Ken Wills: 10% (9 votes)
Withnail creator Bruce Robinson: 5% (5 votes)
Fat bloke Buster Bloodvessel: 5% (5 votes)
Writing genius Iain Aitch: 3% (3 votes)
Hollywood star Tom Hanks: 3% (3 votes)

Click here to find out more about Brenda Blethyn at IMDb

Poll Position

Yes Fannit fans! After 69 votes it's still all to play for in my ballot to see who's our Greatest Living Thanetian! With only a couple of days to run, lovely Brenda Blethyn is on top of my poll, next to Dame Tracey Emin, who's just above yours truly. So keep those votes trickling in!

And with that image firmly emblazoned in my mind's eye, I'm off to, er, father a few knuckle children.

Who's Our GLT?

Thanks for all your suggestions as to who is to replace the late, great, dearly departed Oliver Postgate as our Greatest Living Thanetian. As promised, I've popped another of my 7 day polls in the sidebar on the right, so get voting!

O'Barmy Army Romps To Victory

Well really, there's not much point continuing with my 24 hour poll as the result in the US has been a landslide for Barack Obama. For the record, here's how Thanet voted up to this point:

Question: Who do you want to win the US election?

Senator O'Barmy: 68% (26 votes)
John McCain's Oven Chips: 15% (6 votes)
Mayor McCheese: 15% (6 votes)

A deserved and momentous victory. Although personally if I have to listen to him banging on about 'change' one more time I'll probably go spare. That's a point - do you think if we could find someone round here to campaign for change, we'd actually get it?

Has McCain Had His Chips?

With the Septics holding a bit of an old vote for Prez today, I thought I'd pop a 24 hour poll in the sidebar on the right to gauge Thanetian opinion on who should be the most powerful man in the world.

Remember, this is just for fun. Oh hell, who am I kidding, this ain't the BBC. So I promise that whoever the island votes for will be the winner!

Boatloads Of Dosh

Ahoy me hearties! A big ECR 'Mwah!' to everyone who clicked on my recent 7 day poll to raise money for the brave chaps at the RNLI. The final result was:

Yes, I'd like ECR to donate 25p per vote to the RNLI: 94% (88 votes)

No, I'm such a miserable old skinflint I can't even bear the thought of giving somebody else's money to charity: 5% (5 votes).

As I find five people not wanting to donate someone else's money to a very worthy cause rather incredible, I've taken the total number of votes - 93 - as the final tally. Which makes a whopping £23.25! And to show I'm a good sport, I've doubled it by adding £23.25 of my own hard-earned, bringing the total to £46.50, which, as you can see from the screen grab above, I paid online.

Um, oh, er, Cyril, my accountant, has pointed out that the first £23.25 was also my money. Oh well, if I'm ever caught out in my Sunseeker by a force 10 blow, I'm sure I'll consider it money well spent!

Click here to read more about the RNLI SOS Day or donate direct

Concrete Evidence

Hearty congratulations to all of you who jumped on my latest 7 day poll asking whether you'd prefer a council with a larger set of cajones when it comes to fronting out developers who develop out the Ile's front, back and sides. A whopping 53 people cast their votes, here's the final tally:

Question: What's the way forward for Fannit?

Developers? No thanks!: 13% (7 votes)
Concrete is my friend!: 9% (5 votes)
More discretion by a stronger council: 77% (41 votes)

An overwhelming majority in favour of our beloved council showing more red cards and fewer green lights. Not that I expect them to take much notice. It seems you only have to give them a bag of toffees these days and they'll re-designate your agricultural land for industrial use before you can say 'JOBS!'.

Fannit Under Fret

In my capacity as Professor of Seasideology at the Ramsgate Institute of Coastscape Studies, I've been giving a lot of thought to the way forward for our septic isle. Also I haven't had a job for weeks, so it passes the time.

Now, do we really want our lovely lump of chalk concreted over willy-nilly under the battle cry 'JOBS!'? It ain't necessarily so. Sheringham, a quaint seaside town in Norfolk, finally saw off a Tesco mega-barn yesterday after their district council opposed the development and stood up to the retailer that accounts for one in every eight pounds spent in this country. The planning inspector said: 'While the store would have some benefits for the town, they were outweighed by irreparable damage it could do to existing traders and the character of the lively resort.' Sound familiar?

On the other side of the coin, idle hands generally make friends with Mr Swan and Mr Vesta. It never ceases to amaze me how easily things burst into flames in towns that are surrounded by water! Only today, Fleetwood's historic pier went up in a suspected arson attack after being bought recently by a businessman who wanted to turn it into flats, against the wishes of the locals. Sound familiar?

Maybe there's a third way. Maybe a strong council, which put our coastal, rural and built environment top of its list, and stood up for sustainable and sympathetic development to create jobs, would get your electoral juices flowing. That's why, dear reader, I've added another of my 7 day polls to the sidebar on the right!

Click here to read Sheringham story in North Norfolk News
Click here to read Fleetwood Pier story on BBC website

Could Do With A Bit More Polish

Mr Ceaucescu (no relation) has been moonlighting. And I don't mean making money with the mastic.

Trawling through BoobTube earlier today, I came across a short commercial he's made for that new East European deli on the high street. It isn't one of his finest pieces of work, I'm afraid. Not so much an advert as a badvert. See what you think:

Separated At Birth?

Reader Samantha writes:

I wonder if anyone else has spotted a similarity between the outgoing Prime Minister of Poland, Mr Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and the President of Poland, Mr Lech Kaczynski? Are they by any chance related?

Prime Minister/President, President/Prime Minister