Right, I'm off for a cooler. You lot can talk amongst yourselves - you seem to be quite good at that!
Showing posts with label The Gazunder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Gazunder. Show all posts
Friday, July 19, 2013
Twot
Right, I'm off for a cooler. You lot can talk amongst yourselves - you seem to be quite good at that!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Asdy Asy Dy
Reader Bill has sent me the above cutting from today's Isle of Thanet Gazunder. As you can see, it shows a group of grown men clasping their, er, orchids with the caption 'Asdas tdt as dyy asdy asy dy asy dy asy dasy dy asy dy asd'.Which translates roughly as 'Nob sub forgets to change caption place holder.' Honestly, the standards of journalism these days!
Monday, July 26, 2010
You Ain't Nothin' But A Newshound
Reader Steve writes: 'Knowing your proclivity for all things Gazunder-related, I thought you might like this snap I took of three Isle of Thanet Gazetteers at the Ramsgate Carnival yesterday. Can you name them? The carnival was a great success by the way, and very well attended.'Well thanks for that Steve. I recognise the Greek god on the left - it's Andy 'Chopper' Woodman if I'm not mistaken. And that looks like Saul Leese behind the make-up on the right. But I can't place Wonder Woman in the middle. Any clues?
Friday, April 30, 2010
East Of The Wantsum
Here's this week's East of the Wantsum (click it to big it). Good to see a mostly positive reception for Margate's favourite daughter in this week's Gazunder, despite her having a couple of knockers.Right! I'm off to the Arsonists' Playground now to join in the Tracey Emin love-in, so don't expect to hear a Dickie dickie bird for a while, especially as I hear Barnacles now serves Gadds'!
Sunday, November 01, 2009
East Of The Wantsum
Here's this week's East of the Wantsum. As ever, you can click the pic to enjoy it in full Panavision. And I thoroughly recommend reading the last frame in a Kim Jong Il style 'I'm Rone-ry' accent for maximum sniggering pleasure!Next week it's all change at the Isle of Thanet Gazunder, where my strip usually appears every Friday. The rag's having a makeover, so who knows where, or whether, East of the Wantsum will fit in.
More importantly, buried in the Gazunder 'revamp' news is the shock revelation that the other Thanet papers in the Daily Mail owned Northcliffe Media group, Thanet Times and Sadscene, are 'merging'. Which effectively means one or the other has folded (in the financial rather than the literal paper sense). Clearly the plastic bottom has fallen out of the double glazing market, and with Broadstairs uPvc millionaires barely able to scrape enough together for their third Range Rover, I presume advertising budgets are being cut to the bone.
Still, it's not all doom and gloom as the Gazunder has a new, award winning hack to replace Dr Who and George Formby obsessed Thom Morris who's departed for pastures new (Ashford). Step forward Andy Woodman, who this week scooped [Geddit?!!!?] an 'exclusive' on how the, er, floaters in the water over on the east of the island will prevent Viking Bay from getting a Blue Flag yet again next year. Maybe the poor Dickensians would have more luck applying for a Poo Flag.
And speaking of poo-pooing, needless to say the Gazunder's lovely editor Rebecca poured cold, Viking Bay water on my suggestion that Andy should be given his own column: Woodman's Chopper - A light-hearted look at the burgeoning Thanet dogging scene! Well, come on, if she can have a column called The Joy of Bex, why on earth not?!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Gazette Editor In Thespian Floor Show
Reader Rebecca has sent me this snap of the Gazunder's lovely editor Rebecca Smith [Are they by any chance related? - Ed] giving it some acting welly in a recent performance in Ash. Smiffy, as her fans know her, trained to tread the boards before becoming a journo, and was playing a role in the Ash Heritage Group's Swing Riots walkabout production.Which got me thinking. What on earth were the 'Swing Riots'? Well, it turns out they were a kind of rural offshoot of the Luddites. Instead of burning factories, the Swing Rioters were more interested in burning the evil threshing machines, and it all started here in Kent. Indeed, given its name, Ash may well have been the epicentre!
Isn't it nice to know that the time-honoured tradition of arson in these parts can be traced back so far? Albeit these days it's more likely to be a fun park, a listed building awaiting development, or both that gets the old Swan Vesta and a can of five star treatment!
Ash Heritage Group's Swing Riots performance
Swing Riots on Wikipedia
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Blowing A Gale Part Trois
The story so far... Hufty-tufty Thanet Tory MP Sir Roger Wind has distributed an email complaining at the cheek of the local blue-top in questioning his expenses. After a bit of an old moan, the former Radio Caroline DJ and BBC producer's blistering missive reproduces the impertinent questions the hack asked (see previous two items). Now read on...
Domestic Costs
After seventeen years the furnishings, provided at my own expense, in the London accommodation that I was occupying at the time had become dilapidated. When, in 2004, I determined that I would fight the 2005, 2010 and, probably, further general elections I sought pre-approval from the House of Commons fees office to purchase replacements. The cost of £509 for redecoration, which does not include materials, was considered reasonable as were the other items listed. The total cost averaged out at about £150 per year. This claim has subsequently been examined, along with all other Additional Costs claims, by the Conservative Party`s Scrutiny Panel and I have been requested to make no repayments.
The Isle of Thanet Gazette is wholly aware of the circumstances surrounding the purchase of a television set for professional use. Its sister paper, the Thanet Times, recently ran a plagiarised version of a story published in the Herne Bay Times which was itself lifted from a 'Gale's View' that I wrote for the Herne Bay Gazette and the Thanet Extra in July 2008! That column has been posted on my website ever since - as the Gazette knows full well. The bottom line is that following the demise of my 15-year old, analogue TV, I again sought advance authority to purchase a new TV set in a Comet Warehouse (Margate) sale. The price was 50% lower than the cost of hiring an equivalent set over a six-year (two years remaining of the current parliament and potentially four of the next) period. It was approved as value for money and also cleared by the Scrutiny Panel.
Following a car accident that left her wheelchair-bound for two months, my wife and I decided that I would move from a basement flat (down some steep steps) to the room that I now occupy when in London. In order to make this viable certain adaptations were necessary and these one-off costs were again approved by the Fees Office and have also subsequently been cleared by the Scrutiny Panel.
My Additional Costs claims for rental, utilities and sundries are now amongst the lowest for Members representing out-of-London constituencies and, when the 2008/2009 figures are published will be revealed to be below £6,000 out of a potential £23,000.
Office Costs
The 4,000 posters purchased in 2005 were for 'advice surgery' advertising. These are provided, at the rate of about 1000 a year, to voluntary groups, doctors’ surgeries and dentists, schools, hospitals, businesses and other outlets for notice board use.
Had the Gazette taken the trouble to check the claims more thoroughly they would have learned that I did not pay '£50 to become a Friend of Herne Bay Festival' but bought a £50 advice surgery advertisement in the festival programme. I have also purchased similar space in parish magazines and other such outlets and find it a cost-effective way of reaching my constituents and informing them of the services that we offer.
I regard the money spent maintaining my website as also cost-effective. Not only does it allow me to post press releases, photographs and other information (such as this) that might otherwise be ignored or edited by the local press but, judging by the number of requests for assistance that I receive via the website it helps many people to make contact with me when they most need help.
The computer and broadband costs referred to are in excess of the three office computers installed in my main parliamentary office in Birchington and enable me to access my full office records from the office in my home at any hour of the day or night. It may surprise the Isle of Thanet Gazette to know that many Members of Parliament work what is, effectively, a seven-day week.
The £130 Olympus digital camera and memory card were purchased, with advance approval, for office use. This is not a 'top of the range' camera but represented, at the time of purchase, the best value for money to generate press-quality pictures. We have found that local papers, including the Isle of Thanet Gazette and the Thanet Times, are frequently unable to send reporters and photographers to cover local events (and in my case sometimes parliamentary duties with the armed forces, police or overseas) and have been grateful to receive the pictures and copy that we supply to them free of charge.
The Isle of Thanet Gazette may again be astonished to learn that we deal with a large volume of correspondence. All of my mail and most of my e-mails are opened by me, personally (I arrive in my office at 06.45 and my wife, who runs my parliamentary office, is ordinarily at her desk before 07.00), processed by me and sent by express delivery to Birchington for typing and onward transmission.
We have large numbers of constituents who either cannot afford or do not choose to use e-mail and therefore deal with most post by letter. We are currently turning around between a hundred and a hundred and fifty communications a day and, although we do not always succeed, we try to respond to enquiries within 48 hours.
I am fortunate to have the services of two excellent and dedicated audio typists. After fifteen years one of our Dictaphone systems became unfit for purpose, inefficient and, potentially, a hazard to aural health. I believe that my team have a right to decent office equipment and this machine was replaced. I also bulk-purchased a supply of dictation cassettes to get best value for money: at any one time we may well have six tapes in circulation and although these are re-used they do, of course, wear out and become inaudible after excessive use.
I frankly do not think that it is up to the Isle of Thanet Gazette to try to tell me, or my staff, how to run our office or what equipment we should use. We do, of course, receive complaints from time to time but the general level of customer satisfaction with the speed and efficiency of our handling of constituency casework is amongst the best. (Source: theyworkforyou.com)
My office, like most businesses, uses pens! The special-offer purchase of 100 Regal pens (the 'gift boxes', cardboard containers, were thrown in free) represented good value for money, last longer than slightly cheaper throw-away items and we still have a good supply of them for necessary future use.
Standards of journalism
As a pedant with the glimmerings of a classical education I sometimes use long words. My staff are diligent and we take trouble to try to ensure that our correspondence is literate and grammatically correct, that the right words are employed for the right purposes and that the spelling is checked. We do not always succeed but our standards are high and the office copy of the Oxford English Dictionary assists this process.
Had the Isle of Thanet Gazette staff scrutinised my published claim form properly they might have been better informed. In their eagerness to imply that I have used expenses to buy Rutherfurd`s (excellent) novels for personal use they have clearly looked at the receipt for the dictionary which contains, also, these three books that were bought at the same time. An elementary study of the supporting form shows, however, that only the dictionary was claimed for.
If my constituents believe that I have been either excessive or improper in my use of what we consistently recognise is their taxpayer`s money then they will no doubt tell me so in the usual manner.
Here endeth the email.
Domestic Costs
After seventeen years the furnishings, provided at my own expense, in the London accommodation that I was occupying at the time had become dilapidated. When, in 2004, I determined that I would fight the 2005, 2010 and, probably, further general elections I sought pre-approval from the House of Commons fees office to purchase replacements. The cost of £509 for redecoration, which does not include materials, was considered reasonable as were the other items listed. The total cost averaged out at about £150 per year. This claim has subsequently been examined, along with all other Additional Costs claims, by the Conservative Party`s Scrutiny Panel and I have been requested to make no repayments.
The Isle of Thanet Gazette is wholly aware of the circumstances surrounding the purchase of a television set for professional use. Its sister paper, the Thanet Times, recently ran a plagiarised version of a story published in the Herne Bay Times which was itself lifted from a 'Gale's View' that I wrote for the Herne Bay Gazette and the Thanet Extra in July 2008! That column has been posted on my website ever since - as the Gazette knows full well. The bottom line is that following the demise of my 15-year old, analogue TV, I again sought advance authority to purchase a new TV set in a Comet Warehouse (Margate) sale. The price was 50% lower than the cost of hiring an equivalent set over a six-year (two years remaining of the current parliament and potentially four of the next) period. It was approved as value for money and also cleared by the Scrutiny Panel.
Following a car accident that left her wheelchair-bound for two months, my wife and I decided that I would move from a basement flat (down some steep steps) to the room that I now occupy when in London. In order to make this viable certain adaptations were necessary and these one-off costs were again approved by the Fees Office and have also subsequently been cleared by the Scrutiny Panel.
My Additional Costs claims for rental, utilities and sundries are now amongst the lowest for Members representing out-of-London constituencies and, when the 2008/2009 figures are published will be revealed to be below £6,000 out of a potential £23,000.
Office Costs
The 4,000 posters purchased in 2005 were for 'advice surgery' advertising. These are provided, at the rate of about 1000 a year, to voluntary groups, doctors’ surgeries and dentists, schools, hospitals, businesses and other outlets for notice board use.
Had the Gazette taken the trouble to check the claims more thoroughly they would have learned that I did not pay '£50 to become a Friend of Herne Bay Festival' but bought a £50 advice surgery advertisement in the festival programme. I have also purchased similar space in parish magazines and other such outlets and find it a cost-effective way of reaching my constituents and informing them of the services that we offer.
I regard the money spent maintaining my website as also cost-effective. Not only does it allow me to post press releases, photographs and other information (such as this) that might otherwise be ignored or edited by the local press but, judging by the number of requests for assistance that I receive via the website it helps many people to make contact with me when they most need help.
The computer and broadband costs referred to are in excess of the three office computers installed in my main parliamentary office in Birchington and enable me to access my full office records from the office in my home at any hour of the day or night. It may surprise the Isle of Thanet Gazette to know that many Members of Parliament work what is, effectively, a seven-day week.
The £130 Olympus digital camera and memory card were purchased, with advance approval, for office use. This is not a 'top of the range' camera but represented, at the time of purchase, the best value for money to generate press-quality pictures. We have found that local papers, including the Isle of Thanet Gazette and the Thanet Times, are frequently unable to send reporters and photographers to cover local events (and in my case sometimes parliamentary duties with the armed forces, police or overseas) and have been grateful to receive the pictures and copy that we supply to them free of charge.
The Isle of Thanet Gazette may again be astonished to learn that we deal with a large volume of correspondence. All of my mail and most of my e-mails are opened by me, personally (I arrive in my office at 06.45 and my wife, who runs my parliamentary office, is ordinarily at her desk before 07.00), processed by me and sent by express delivery to Birchington for typing and onward transmission.
We have large numbers of constituents who either cannot afford or do not choose to use e-mail and therefore deal with most post by letter. We are currently turning around between a hundred and a hundred and fifty communications a day and, although we do not always succeed, we try to respond to enquiries within 48 hours.
I am fortunate to have the services of two excellent and dedicated audio typists. After fifteen years one of our Dictaphone systems became unfit for purpose, inefficient and, potentially, a hazard to aural health. I believe that my team have a right to decent office equipment and this machine was replaced. I also bulk-purchased a supply of dictation cassettes to get best value for money: at any one time we may well have six tapes in circulation and although these are re-used they do, of course, wear out and become inaudible after excessive use.
I frankly do not think that it is up to the Isle of Thanet Gazette to try to tell me, or my staff, how to run our office or what equipment we should use. We do, of course, receive complaints from time to time but the general level of customer satisfaction with the speed and efficiency of our handling of constituency casework is amongst the best. (Source: theyworkforyou.com)
My office, like most businesses, uses pens! The special-offer purchase of 100 Regal pens (the 'gift boxes', cardboard containers, were thrown in free) represented good value for money, last longer than slightly cheaper throw-away items and we still have a good supply of them for necessary future use.
Standards of journalism
As a pedant with the glimmerings of a classical education I sometimes use long words. My staff are diligent and we take trouble to try to ensure that our correspondence is literate and grammatically correct, that the right words are employed for the right purposes and that the spelling is checked. We do not always succeed but our standards are high and the office copy of the Oxford English Dictionary assists this process.
Had the Isle of Thanet Gazette staff scrutinised my published claim form properly they might have been better informed. In their eagerness to imply that I have used expenses to buy Rutherfurd`s (excellent) novels for personal use they have clearly looked at the receipt for the dictionary which contains, also, these three books that were bought at the same time. An elementary study of the supporting form shows, however, that only the dictionary was claimed for.
If my constituents believe that I have been either excessive or improper in my use of what we consistently recognise is their taxpayer`s money then they will no doubt tell me so in the usual manner.
Here endeth the email.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Blowing A Gale Part Deux
Here's the next, um, thrilling instalment of that Roger Gale email! After banging on about 'probity' and responsible journalism (see item below - I mean, how dare a journalist be so impudent as to question a member's expenses!), Rodge regurgitates the email he has received from the Gazunder hack asking for clarification on some of the items he's claimed for. Here it is:
To: GALE, Roger
Subject: Expenses
Following parliament publishing MPs expenses last week we have trawled through MPs expenses and wondered if you could explain your reasons for purchasing the following items/services:
What were the 4,000 A4 posters in March 2005 for?
Is £358 a year for your website worth the money?
Why did you spend £97 on 100 Regal pens and 100 gift boxes?
Taxpayers might be interested in your reasons for spending money on the following items…
£365 on a dictation machine then following year spent £104 on cassettes
£695 on bedroom furniture
£125 on towels and bedding
£509 on decorators
£875 on a new computer system
Books - The Forest by Edward Rutherfurd , Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd, Russka by Edward Rutherfurd - 7.99 each
Oxford dictionary £36
£129.99 on a silver Olympus camera + £34.99 on a memory card
£63 in 2006 on curtains re-tailored
£549.99 on a 26" Phillips TV
£1,700 for plumbing, electrical, redecoration and installation of handrail September 2007
£50 to become a friend of the Herne Bay festival
I wondered why you went for a tape Dictaphone over a hard-drive based one? As it means extra expense on tapes?
Did you need the new bedroom furniture as your home was empty?
Why did you claim for the books you purchased?
Why did you become a friend of the Herne Bay festival and then claim it back?
How do you go about getting the best value when it comes to technology, for example £550 for a TV, £875 on a computer?
We’re running the story in this week’s Gazette.
Isle of Thanet Gazette, Thanet Times and Thanet Adscene
Suite 1, Third Floor, Mill Lane House, Mill Lane, Margate, Kent.
CT9 1JU
Phone- 01843 578152
Tomorrow - what Roger said next!
To: GALE, Roger
Subject: Expenses
Following parliament publishing MPs expenses last week we have trawled through MPs expenses and wondered if you could explain your reasons for purchasing the following items/services:
What were the 4,000 A4 posters in March 2005 for?
Is £358 a year for your website worth the money?
Why did you spend £97 on 100 Regal pens and 100 gift boxes?
Taxpayers might be interested in your reasons for spending money on the following items…
£365 on a dictation machine then following year spent £104 on cassettes
£695 on bedroom furniture
£125 on towels and bedding
£509 on decorators
£875 on a new computer system
Books - The Forest by Edward Rutherfurd , Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd, Russka by Edward Rutherfurd - 7.99 each
Oxford dictionary £36
£129.99 on a silver Olympus camera + £34.99 on a memory card
£63 in 2006 on curtains re-tailored
£549.99 on a 26" Phillips TV
£1,700 for plumbing, electrical, redecoration and installation of handrail September 2007
£50 to become a friend of the Herne Bay festival
I wondered why you went for a tape Dictaphone over a hard-drive based one? As it means extra expense on tapes?
Did you need the new bedroom furniture as your home was empty?
Why did you claim for the books you purchased?
Why did you become a friend of the Herne Bay festival and then claim it back?
How do you go about getting the best value when it comes to technology, for example £550 for a TV, £875 on a computer?
We’re running the story in this week’s Gazette.
Isle of Thanet Gazette, Thanet Times and Thanet Adscene
Suite 1, Third Floor, Mill Lane House, Mill Lane, Margate, Kent.
CT9 1JU
Phone- 01843 578152
Tomorrow - what Roger said next!
Gale Blasts Gazunder Over Expenses Story
Holy claim sheets! It appears our Tory MP for Norf Fannit has got the right royal hump with the Gazunder over its MPs' expenses story last week. A Sarf Fannit reader who wishes to remain anonymous has sent me an email that Rodge seems to be circulating. It begins:
I have received, from a reporter acting on behalf of the editor of the Isle of Thanet Gazette, the following e-mail. My response is published beneath the e-mail and I leave it to my constituents to judge both the probity of my own actions and the probity and motives of what has hitherto been regarded as a responsible local newspaper.
For my own part I am saddened by both the tone of this approach and by the fact that the newspaper has failed to properly check its questions and assertions against facts that are in the public domain.
I regard with disdain the threat implied in the statement: 'We`re running the story in this week's Gazette'.
Roger Gale MP
House of Commons,
25th June 2009
There's loads more, including a long list of queried expenses from the Gazunder, and Sir Roger Wind's blustery riposte. But rather than bore you to distraction in one go, I'll publish it as a partwork over the next day or two. Once you've collected all of them, there's a free duck island on offer!
I have received, from a reporter acting on behalf of the editor of the Isle of Thanet Gazette, the following e-mail. My response is published beneath the e-mail and I leave it to my constituents to judge both the probity of my own actions and the probity and motives of what has hitherto been regarded as a responsible local newspaper.
For my own part I am saddened by both the tone of this approach and by the fact that the newspaper has failed to properly check its questions and assertions against facts that are in the public domain.
I regard with disdain the threat implied in the statement: 'We`re running the story in this week's Gazette'.
Roger Gale MP
House of Commons,
25th June 2009
There's loads more, including a long list of queried expenses from the Gazunder, and Sir Roger Wind's blustery riposte. But rather than bore you to distraction in one go, I'll publish it as a partwork over the next day or two. Once you've collected all of them, there's a free duck island on offer!
Friday, May 15, 2009
East Of The Wantsum
I dunno! For the second time in five weeks, East of the Wantsum has gone west. So apologies if you shelled out 60p on the Gazunder today. Your money was wasted. Here's what you would have seen (click on image to enlarge) if the paper's lovely editrix, Rebecca, hadn't forgotten to put it in again. Kuh! You slave all day over a hot computer, type your knuckles to the bone...At least Rebecca was kind enough to ask: 'How can I make it up to you?' However, my response that she could make it up by running a campaign to stop mad councillors fixing it for Infratil to fly knackered old 747s over my cliff top mansion all night long met with the kind of one word response Douglas Hogg has been palming journos off with recently when questioned about moat-related activities.
Ne'er mind. I've got a whole evening of nothing to look forward to. Here I am, over 18, bored, willing to help others... if only... but wait... what's this on page 19? It could be just the ticket...
Friday, May 08, 2009
East Of The Wantsum
If you're too mean to splash out 60p for today's Isle of Thanet Gazunder, or are concerned it could just be chock full of drivel, here's my weekly two penn'orth. As ever, click on the image to enlarge.Next week - ugly councillor competition!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
East Of The Wantsum
As well as pollution news (see below), here's another thing you won't find in this week's Gazunder. My weekly photo strip, East of the Wantsum (click on the image to enlarge).I'm assured by Rebecca, the lovely editor, that it's a mere oversight and that she forgot to put it in. Of course, the conspiratorial amongst you will assume that she's been nobbled by the duffers in Cecil Square. Any old how, we'll soon find out next Friday!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Strip Tease
Friday, April 03, 2009
Island Hopping
With spring in the air, I find it always gets the old Eastcliff sap rising when the ladies start casting a clout and sporting those skimpy little numbers that show a bit of belly button. However, here on Chavvy Island the first cuckoo does not automatically bode well, as my photograph rather too amply demonstrates.I see the Gazunder has started a campaign today to 'Save the Past for the Future', by which they mean getting Margate and Ramsgate Museums reopened. Jolly good luck to them, I say. Our Sandy is quoted as saying he 'loves the museums'. So much so that he's loved them to death if you ask me.
But on the bright side the paper also reports that Northdown House has been saved for the Thanetian nation, after much to do about the plan to flog it off to the council's developer chums. Apparently the legal restrictions in the property's covenants make it impractical. Which was what everyone told the Cecil Square duffers in the first place. Still, if our council tax has furnished some poor, impoverished lawyers with a couple more Bentleys who am I to complain?
Anyhoo, I'm packing my YSL suiter as we speak in preparation for a weekend on an exotic south sea island. Er, the Isle of Wight as it happens. But I'll be sure to send you a postcard. Pip pip!
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
A Little Extra Help From TDC?
It's been widely reported that local papers across the country are suffering in the teeth of the recession. In fact they've been well and truly bitten on the bum. Still, I expect Barry, Gordo and their chums will sort everything out up in that London tomorrow.Meanwhile, although we might moan and groan at some of their coverage (or non-coverage), we're lucky that we're still served by three pretty good rags here on Chavvy Island. I'm talking about your super, soaraway yourfannitinnit, the Gazunder (which has perked up recently since lovely editor Rebecca Smith got back from maternity leave) and the Thanet Extra. Not that they haven't had their difficulties. The Gazunder has moved offices, and the Daily Mail owned group that runs it is reported to be reorganising its Kent operations, as well as slashing 1000 jobs across the country.
But the Kent Messenger group that owns the Extra seems to be suffering the most, with another round of job cuts announced recently, and its editorial director reported to be currently on 'gardening leave'. As part of the cuts, KM were due to close their offices in Folkestone and Thanet. In fact, my spies on the grimy streets of Cliftonville, where Thanet Extra is based, tell me that they were about to relocate to Herne Bay as of tomorrow.
But wait! What's this? A white night to the rescue, in the form of our very own beloved council! Far from wanting the messenger shot, the duffers at Cecil Square have thrown the Extra a lifeline, it seems, by offering to let them stay on in Cliftonville 'without the usual costs'.
Now all this must be firmly filed in the draw marked 'rumour and gossip', and I have no way of knowing if or what costs TDC could waive. But it strikes me that, if it turns out to be true, there might be a few hundred other traders and businesses around the island who'd like to be given a hand up courtesy of the council taxpayer.
Oh, but they wouldn't be the kinds of businesses that Sandy, Roger and co would need to wine, dine and sixty-nine so that their infinite guff could be captured in print for eternity, would they?
Friday, March 13, 2009
Prince Charles To Back Dreamland Plans By Stiltwalking Across Car Park
More on page 5.Other news:
Page 3 - some councillors are a bit naughty
Page 4 - Sandy declares historic zoo cages 'open for monkey business'
Page 7 - 130 year old Doris takes up pole dancing
Page 12 - youngsters hide hedgehogs for charity
Page 21 - fat birds get their kit off, plus all the other entertainment news around the island!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Knock Three Times And Ask For Rebecca
News that the Isle of Thanet Gazunder moved offices this week got me pondering if their new accommodation was an improvement on the old Gazunder Towers.
It would seem not if the instructions on their website are anything to go by. More like some seedy Soho joint than a swanky media centre:
1. Press for attention
2. Hop in the lift
3. Press the button for the third floor
4. Ring the bell on the door opposite to be let in
5. Er... shurely shome mishtake? Ed.
It would seem not if the instructions on their website are anything to go by. More like some seedy Soho joint than a swanky media centre:
1. Press for attention
2. Hop in the lift
3. Press the button for the third floor
4. Ring the bell on the door opposite to be let in
5. Er... shurely shome mishtake? Ed.Thursday, December 11, 2008
Plenty Of Whine At Gazunder Xmas Party
Spare a thought for the score or so of hacks and ad execs who turned up for the Isle of Thanet Gazunder's Christmas party at the No 6 brasserie in Margate's old town this lunchtime. I'm told the poor loves had to pay for the bash themselves. 'The company wouldn't even fork out for a couple of bottles of wine,' bleated one poor staffer.This despite the fact that the Gazunder is now owned by the Daily Mail, which specialises in rabble-rousing 'Christmas to be replaced by Winterval' stories like this:
Christmas should be downgraded in favour of festivals from other religions to improve race relations, says an explosive report. Labour's favourite think-tank says that because it would be hard to 'expunge' Christmas from the national calendar, 'even-handedness' means public organisations must start giving other religions equal footing blah blah swamped by Muslims blah
Hmm. Looks like they're doing a pretty good job of downgrading Christmas themselves, if you ask me. Profit at the Daily Mail Group Northcliffe Media division last year: £33.8m.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
No Hacking Cough But Hacks Hacked Off
Whilst the Kent Messenger is shedding 10% of its workforce, plans are afoot at Gazunder owners Northcliffe Media to ensure their hacks will be the only ones left to report it when the end of the world finally arrives.The Daily Mail owned group is offering all 17,000 employees free doses of the anti bird flu drug Tamiflu at a cost of £850,000, according to journo website Hold The Front Page. Ken Thompson, the group's Employment Director, has written to staff saying scientists believed a flu pandemic was 'inevitable' and would lead to 'significant and sustained disruption to our businesses'. He continues: 'The development of a vaccine to treat a pandemic virus cannot begin until there is an outbreak of the emerging strain. A vaccine would therefore not be available to the general population for six months after the start of the pandemic. Antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu provide an alternative to vaccines but will not provide immunity to influenza. They limit its effects and increase the chances of survival.'
Mr Thompson added that the UK government has been stockpiling Tamiflu but they only have sufficient supply to cover 25% of the population which includes all essential workers. He said the Daily Mail recognised the importance of its talented people and that it had taken the action in an attempt to protect all its employees from the threat of pandemic influenza. Workers' close friends and families will also be offered the drug.
How comforting to know that, come the pandemic, a small group of Daily Mail and Gazunder hacks will survive to re-populate Thanet and the rest of the UK!
Meanwhile I hear that not all the bunnies at Gazunder Towers are happy ones. With lovely editrix Rebecca Smith on six months maternity leave, her stand-in has not exactly been winning friends and influencing people, according to word reaching the old Eastcliff shell-like. The paper is already advertising for a news editor, and other scribblers are said to have the collywobbles following a vicious rumour that's spreading like bird flu that Rebecca is planning to make her absence permanent. However, I have it from a number of horses proverbials that as soon as her six months is up, the newsroom will again be resounding to the joy of Bex!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Plain Wrong
I see the Gazunder's Plain Jane has waded into the murky world of Thanet blogging this week, with several of the top blogs given a mench. Yours truly gets a guernsey (of course) as does Bignews Tony and Bertie Biggles.
The old Eastcliff ego, already quite dangerously inflated in some people's eyes, swelled even further at being dubbed 'the local blogging king' and 'often the first with breaking news', and I was even contemplating a trip to Boredstares to plant a couple of 'mwahs' on PJ's cheeks. But then there was an audible POP! as the mincers copped the fact that she'd called me East Kent Richard, and given my web address as www.eastclifframsgate.blogspot.com, which as every blog fan knows is the address of Councillor Green's site. So much for culling a few readers from our local blue top!
Oh well, it's a good job I'm off to Mr Ceaucescu (no relation)'s dacha in South Ossetia for a little break next week. Hopefully the R&R will help soothe my bruised sleb pride. Fear not, though, as I'm leaving the big chair in the capable, clasped hands of my occasional correspondent Sister Assumpta. Now there's a woman who would give Plain Jane a foul-mouthed run for her money!
Click here to read Plain Jane on the Gazunder website
The old Eastcliff ego, already quite dangerously inflated in some people's eyes, swelled even further at being dubbed 'the local blogging king' and 'often the first with breaking news', and I was even contemplating a trip to Boredstares to plant a couple of 'mwahs' on PJ's cheeks. But then there was an audible POP! as the mincers copped the fact that she'd called me East Kent Richard, and given my web address as www.eastclifframsgate.blogspot.com, which as every blog fan knows is the address of Councillor Green's site. So much for culling a few readers from our local blue top!
Oh well, it's a good job I'm off to Mr Ceaucescu (no relation)'s dacha in South Ossetia for a little break next week. Hopefully the R&R will help soothe my bruised sleb pride. Fear not, though, as I'm leaving the big chair in the capable, clasped hands of my occasional correspondent Sister Assumpta. Now there's a woman who would give Plain Jane a foul-mouthed run for her money!
Click here to read Plain Jane on the Gazunder website
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