Hog Out!

As there's not much news to report today, here's a picture of some bikers in Margate for my erstwhile chum UKIP Tony. Be seeing you!

Roger In The Local Economy

Here's a picture from Google Street View of an ordinary house in Birchington. Well, actually, it's not any old house. It's 10, Sea View Road, home of Field Marshal Sir Roger Latchford OBE, one of the new crop of seven old UKIP county councillors voted in at the recent KCC elections. In fact he's just been elevated to the lofty position of UKIP's Chief of Staff for the whole of Kent.

Now, there's no privacy issue here in my publishing this picture. The former Tory and TDC Deputy Duffer's address is on all the election material, and his house is there on Street View for all to see. So nothing contentious there.

That photo was taken in 2009. Take a look, however, at this more recent picture of Sir Roger's drive, which was taken from the public footpath by one of my spies in the last week...

Notice anything different? Yes, that's right, he's had a lovely new, brick block paving job done! Nothing contentious there either, you'd think. Ah, but thereby hangs a tale. Apparently a couple of neighbours also had their drives resurfaced recently, one by a father and son team from Birchington, the other by a company based in Sandwich. Sir Rodge, on the other hand, chose a pair of itinerant Irish lads to do his, which hardly chimes in with UKIP's bluster about local jobs for local people, methinks.

To be fair to the OBEed one (Why? - Ed.), it's hardly the makings of, er, Drivewaygate. And anyway, I'm told the workmen pulled the proverbial over his eyes by claiming responsibility for the neighbours' improvements. Which just makes him a silly old brick, if you ask me.

Ballot Dancing

Readers with long memories will remember that we once had a Conservative councillor on the Ile de Thanet who actually did kill a kitten. Straight up. No bullshit.

Anyhoo, following last week's UKIP love-in, today sees another two elections down in the tip of Kent. Both are by-.

One is here in Ramsgate and has been called because of independent motormouth Ian 'Pile' Driver's flouncing out of our teeny-tiny council. The list of candidates makes for grim reading. Three I've never heard of, and two who I have heard of and would never vote for. I'll leave you to ponder who's who in that particular zoo.

The other ballot is over on the grubby, north side of the island. It follows the conviction and jailing of our erstwhile, inglorious Tory council leader Sandy 'Beach' Ezekiel for corruption. The only name I recognise on the list is the lovely Louise Oldfield, tireless Margate campaigner and owner of the excellent Reading Rooms, that splendid boutique B&B on Hawley Square. She made the 80+ mile round trip to Maidstone Crown Court every day of Ezekiel's nine day trial to tweet and blog us the latest. So my vote, if I had one, would be for her.

Oh well. Hey-ho. Whoever I recommend, it's pretty much a dead cert that we'll end up with another couple of purple people eaters to add to the ever-growing list!

Update: I was right (but then when am I not?!). Two more to add to the UKIP list. Kuh!