Just time for a quick recap of the week..
The Week in Medway Politics, 21 April
Virtual Doorstep: 2 weeks to go!
It is said that elections are won on the doorstep, and that may well be true. Being armchair activists, it’s difficult to check up on that.
Twitter and blogs however are part of our social media present and future, and if the election was decided there, how would each of the wards be looking?
Recap: #MedwayDebates19
Last night, The Political Medway held our first live event, a debate between the future leaders of Medway Council as we approach the local elections. We were delighted to have Cllr Jarrett of Medway Conservatives and Cllr Maple from Medway Labour both came and set out their vision for Medway in front of an audience of approximately 200 people at Midkent College.
If you couldn’t make it along, you can catch up on all of the action from the evening below through medium of tweets:
Continue reading “Recap: #MedwayDebates19”Tonight! The Medway Leaders’ Debate
Tonight is the night!
The Political Medway is hosting a debate between the potential future leaders of Medway Council, Cllr Alan Jarrett of Medway Conservatives and Cllr Vince Maple of Medway Labour.
We are immensely grateful that so many have taken an interest in this event and look forwarding to welcoming you to the Midkent College theatre tonight.
If you’re interested in attending and haven’t yet booked a ticket, you can do so here via Eventbrite.
Some final, practical information ahead of the event:
– You don’t need to print your tickets. You can if you like, but showing us your ticket on your phone is fine, as is just bringing ID so we can tick you off the list.
– The doors will open at 7pm for a prompt 7.30pm start. We are aiming to be done by 9pm.
– The Midkent College car park will be available. Upon passing the car park barriers (they will be open), proceed straight up the road to the main car park. Those with disabled blue badges can take the first left after the barriers, where disabled bays nearer the doors are located.
– From the disabled car parking spaces, the college is fully accessible, with step free access right into the theatre. If you have any specific accessibility requirements, please send us a message and will seek to accommodate them.
– Unfortunately we do not have a way of providing refreshments at this event, and we believe the Costa within the college will be closed. The restaurant may be open ahead of the event, and there are vending machines outside of the theatre.
– We have selected a broad range of questions from those submitted as you booked tickets. We received so many good questions that unfortunately we aren’t able to use them all, but we will get through as many as we can.
– There are a small number of tickets still left, so if you haven’t booked or know someone who might be interested, please get booked in! They will remain available until roughly 4pm today. You can book them here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/59291249724/
Phew! Think that’s it. We look forward to seeing you tonight!
Voice of the Leader: April
Once a month we are 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.’
The place to start this month is surely Brexit (scream!). Between them our national politicians have brought shame on an ancient profession, by their collective refusal to honour the will of the people – in Medway 63% voted to leave.
That wasn’t to nearly leave; or sort of leave; or be asked to vote again on what was supposed to be a once in a generation vote. THAT WAS TO LEAVE!
I admit that my own party has not covered itself in glory, and the negotiations to leave have been very poorly handled. But when it comes to it the political game-playing by the Labour Party in parliament is the reason we are in yet another extension, and the reason we look almost certain to have to endure the charade of European elections!
Continue reading “Voice of the Leader: April”Autism in Medway – Awareness and Acceptance
In which Vicki Sigston looks at the state of autism support in Medway..
I was asked by the Political Medway team to write a piece in honour of Autism Awareness Month which runs throughout April.
I must admit that at first I was a bit stuck with how to approach this. I have some knowledge of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders) but I felt a bit disingenuous as I started to write my piece. The main reason for this is that I have no personal experience of accessing autism services and support. The very first post I wrote for the Political Medway was about period poverty, and quite right that the two male owners of the page ask a woman to write about that – so I didn’t feel I should write about this.
But while talking to friends who do have personal experience someone suggested that what might be great would be to ask some questions of those families in “the system”. Those families where there are formal diagnoses of ASD and who have used, or try to use the support in the local area.
So, thanks to the genius survey creating tool that is Survey Monkey, I put together a very short questionnaire and put out a plea on social media for people in Medway who have personal knowledge of local support to respond.
I was amazed, in a couple of days I had almost 50 responses, plus many direct messages too. Those who responded did so very openly and passionately. The questions had obviously stirred up some feelings and as I read through the responses I started to understand why.
Medway does not get ASD support right. Hardly ever it seems.
Continue reading “Autism in Medway – Awareness and Acceptance”iFAQ: Standing down
Approaching the upcoming local elections, a number of sitting Medway councillors have decided to stand down and not seek re-election. As such, we contacted all of them to ask a few questions about their experiences as a councillor.
As usual, we told all of them that we would publish their responses unedited. You can find them below in the order they were received.
Continue reading “iFAQ: Standing down”The Week in Medway Politics, 14 April
Delayexit
Virtual Doorstep: Three weeks to go!
It is said that elections are won on the doorstep, and that may well be true. Being armchair activists, it’s difficult to check up on that.
Twitter and blogs however are part of our social media present and future, and if the election was decided there, how would each of the wards be looking?