In which we launch a new monthly recap:
Medway Council & Freedom of Information!
What Do They Know?
Do they Know Things?
Lets Find Out! *
Voice of the Leader: February
Once a month we will be offering the Leaders of both Medway Council and the official opposition the opportunity to talk unedited about.. well, Medway politics. Today we hear from Alan Jarrett, Leader of Medway Council and the Conservative Group.
‘Going forward I promise that we will protect Medway from those who seek to close down facilities and services; against those who belittle Medway and its hard-working people; and against those who snub our military heritage and insult our monarchy.’
Recently I said “the first casualty of an election is the truth!” That followed the distribution of a scurrilous leaflet from Labour claiming that no investment had been made in Chatham. Utter nonsense!
In reality there has been massive investment in Chatham: the new bus station; Chatham Placemaking; investment in the railway station; scoping and planning preparation for new housing at Chatham Waterfront and Whiffens Avenue; Chatham Community Hub and library; improved green spaces along the river front including a new riverside walk; and the Command of the Heights project to open up the Great Barrier Ditch to connect the waterfront to Fort Amherst They really should have gone to Specsavers!
Continue reading “Voice of the Leader: February”Medway Council set to spend £45m on purchase of Pentagon Centre in Chatham
Following a Medway Council Cabinet meeting held behind closed doors on Tuesday 12 February, Medway Council is set to spend £45m purchasing the lease to the Pentagon Centre in Chatham.
Continue reading “Medway Council set to spend £45m on purchase of Pentagon Centre in Chatham”Cllr Franklin and the normalisation of far-right rhetoric
In which August Scholl takes a look at the normalisation of Islamophobic views in political discourse in light of Cllr Franklin’s actions.
For anyone accepting public office, their words and actions matter. Whether an MP or a local councillor, elected officials have a duty to represent and be accountable to their constituents. When Conservative councillor for Luton and Wayfield, Michael Franklin, began sharing and endorsing intensely Islamophobic content on his Twitter account in 2016, he acted in a way unfitting for a local politician, as well as being in direct contravention of the Conservative Party code of conduct (‘To support equality of opportunity, diversity and inclusion, and the absence of any and all inappropriate behaviour, in all aspects of the Party’s activities.’).
Continue reading “Cllr Franklin and the normalisation of far-right rhetoric”Voice of the Opposition: February
Once a month we will be offering the Leaders of both Medway Council and the official opposition the opportunity to talk unedited about.. well, Medway politics.
Despite the excellent efforts of the Political Medway website and our own Medway Labour Facebook Live feeds, it is difficult for those who are interested to see everything that is going on at Medway Council. I want to highlight a few issues which Medway Labour councillors have been raising over the past few weeks:
Gillingham UKIP and the Tommy Robinson connection
In which August Scholl takes a look at the rise of the far right and how Gillingham and Rainham UKIP are embracing them.
Medway has lived with the intersection of the UK Independence Party, Brexit and the far right for a long time now. From as far back as Mark Reckless’ surprise Rochester by-election victory in 2014, UKIP has been in close proximity to deeply divisive issues and the extremist fringes who seek to exploit them.
Continue reading “Gillingham UKIP and the Tommy Robinson connection”Voice of the Leader: January
Once a month we will be offering the Leaders of both Medway Council and the official opposition the opportunity to talk unedited about.. well, Medway politics. Today we hear from Alan Jarrett, Leader of Medway Council and the Conservative Group.
‘Going forward I promise that we will protect Medway from those who
seek to close down facilities and services; against those who belittle
Medway and its hard-working people; and against those who snub our
military heritage and insult our monarchy.’
This was the promise I made in my first article for The Political Medway, and it is relevant to reinforce it here as most of us celebrate the incredible success achieved by Gillingham Football Club in defeating Premier League club Cardiff City in the FA Cup.
Gillingham FC is Kent’s only Football League club, this year celebrating its 125th anniversary, and as such has a special place in the history of Medway. The FA Cup is the world’s oldest cup competition and for these two things to coincide is noteworthy in itself.
When we agreed the shirt sponsorship deal for this season with Gillingham FC it was on a nil cost basis to Medway tax payers. But still we had our Labour opposition firstly trying to stop the sponsorship, and secondly to criticise and denigrate it. We’ve been here before, and it is another shabby example of how Medway Labour disrespect our heritage.
Continue reading “Voice of the Leader: January”The votes in Westminster: 2018
Generally voted against more EU integration
On 17 Jan 2018:
Tracey Crouch voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.
Kelly Tolhurst voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.
Rehman Chishti voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.
Dry Medway
To be clear this isn’t intended as a nanny state piece by a teetotal snowflake trying to deliberately upset the right wing borderline alcoholics with personality disorder.
In the spirit of ‘Dry January‘ it’s an opportunity to look at Medway’s relationship with alcohol. Besides many advertiser paid newspaper studies are saying a dry month is not a good idea but rather a general cut back is better.
After all ‘a little of what you fancy does you good’ and ‘a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.’
New weekly guidelines for people who drink regularly:
– Any level of drinking raised the risk of a range of illnesses.
– Women and men are advised to drink no more than 14 units per week.
-spread over 3 days or more.
– A good way is to have several alcohol free days, drink with food and alternate with water.
Voice of the Opposition: January
Once a month we will be offering the Leaders of both Medway Council and the official opposition the opportunity to talk unedited about.. well, Medway politics.