All human life is here

This week has been fascinating. Boating - like so many other leisure activities - is a microcosm of society in itself, with all its hierarchies and its snobberies. There seemed a clear divide between those with sailing boats and those with powered boats. Then again, there is a difference between the "Red Ensign" boats, whose crew own their craft, and those of us who simply rented a boat for a week's break.

And among the flotilla of rental craft, it seems, size is everything. I was amused last evening by a hire boat moored next door, populated by a large family of even larger people.

The mother exclaimed loudly into her mobile phone "It's really cool, all the boats are parked here and we're the longest". She then passed the phone to her enormous and visibly disinterested child, who had just spent ten minutes arguing over more chocolate. He mumbled into the mouthpiece "It's great. We've got three toilets - one of them we're using to keep the food in".

All human life is here...

Great start to the weekend!

Started the weekend in fine style - driving my youngest and her hamster over to her friend to 'babysit' him. I didn't know where we were going, so my daughter provided directions.

As we waited to turn down her friend's road, a bus came hurtling around the bend, and not with a bang or a whimper but an expensive and drawn out grinding and scraping sound, drove right down the side of my car!

The driver got out, and - quite worryingly I felt - was fully prepared with digital camera, stickers and accident report form. We exchanged details, and I left the scene, with him bemoaning the fact that he now had to take details of every passenger in the event of delayed 'whiplash claims'.

Great start to the weekend! Wonder what's next?

Shaken not Stirred? Not me.

Does anyone else find school holidays 'challenging'? You rack your brains all night to come up with the killer idea that a) you haven't done before; that b) the youngest will be old enough for and the eldest won't think childish; and that c) you won't need a second mortgage to pay for.

But by the time my kids had stirred themselves from daytime TV and I'd managed to surgically remove the laptop from their clutches, it was lunchtime. "How about Brighton?" I suggested. "We haven't really got time now - it's the afternoon" they chorused. I wasn't about to point out that they were the reason it was so late, so I loaded them into the car and drove down the Hastings.

Ten quids' worth of tokens at "The Stade" and they seemed happy as the eldest stood the youngest against the red line 'height test' for "Shaken not Stirred", the James Bond ride. Quite what it has to do with James Bond eluded me, other than the fact that James Bond was probably the only person other than a child who could have kept his lunch in his stomach after this ride.

It's funny, but I can quite happily fly a light aircraft over Kent and practice "spinning and stalling" for hours (spinning you can probably guess at - stalling involves cutting the power and pulling the wings up until there's no more lift and the plane falls backwards out of the sky).

Yet the thought of emulating Ian Fleming's hero, whirling around for five minutes on this instrument of psychological torture has about as much appeal as eating a whippy ice cream dipped in hot chocolate. Okay - I lied. I had the ice cream, but left the ride to the kids.

The 'Virtual Travels' of Gary Glitter

Gary Glitter was today released from a Vietnamese jail, and immediately deported back to Britain. Convicted of abuse against two young Vietnamese children, paedophile Glitter (or Paul Gadd in old money) consistently refused to acknowledge his guilt, blaming his fate instead on a conspiracy involving the British press.

So what now? Our laws dictate that Glitter will be placed on the Sex Offenders Register, which will require him to report regularly to his local police station.

But even if UK laws seek to monitor him closely, will that prevent his "virtual" travels? After all, he was found to have countless obscene images of children on his computer in his UK home.

And in countries with less wealth, fewer if any legislative controls over child abuse, and with scores of shady 'fixers' always ready to facilitate the whims of the rich and famous, children will remain at risk from Glitter and others like him.

Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted

So Essex County Council has been given £150,000 by Government to combat teenage knife crime. In partnership with such footballing stars as David Beckham, the County Council intends to spend a large part of this cash on portable knife detectors.

Isn't this slightly missing the point? Wouldn't it make more sense to invest the money in prevention - particularly with such a high-profile partnership - involving young people in sport or other activities which will restore their pride in themselves?

As it is, doesn't this seem rather like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted?

(Since writing this posting at lunchtime, I've checked into what Essex are doing on the issue of knife crime, and the council's proud boast that Essex will be the safest county in the UK within five years. Check out the excellent web site 2smart.co.uk)

The Dark Knight - not a movie for children

I took my eldest yesterday to see "The Dark Knight" - the new Batman movie. And you know what? They're right. It really shouldn't be rated 12A. It's certainly an action packed movie, but it's too dark, too brooding, too forbidding for the British Board of Film Censors to grant it a 12A rating right in the middle of the school holidays.

At 152 minutes, it's very long, and there are at least two occasions when you think it's over. Christian Bale in the lead role almost takes a back seat to the late Heath Ledger, who as the Joker, is the epitome of psychotic maniac - as Michael Caine, who plays Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred says "some men just want to watch the world burn".

My daughter enjoyed the movie, but the thing that stuck in her mind was the "social games" played by the Joker - deeply disturbing acts of violence initiated by the choices made by the innocent victims. Great cast - Bale, Ledger and Caine are joined by Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman - great story, great visuals.

But it's not a movie for children nor should it be rated as such.

The London Dungeon - excellent fun

So whose bright idea was it to visit the London Dungeon today? Mine I guess. We took the train to London Bridge, then walked out onto Tooley Street. By eleven o'clock in the morning, the queue stretched several hundred yards back towards London Bridge. Two and a half hours, two Capri Suns, a Snickers Duo, a bag of Cheesy Wotsits and a small cheap radio to keep from getting bored later, at 1.30pm we got to enter the front door. But it wasn't over yet. Another half hour queuing inside for the ticket booth, then a further half an hour waiting for our tour to begin in the "Labyrinth of the Lost"...

The Torture Chamber, the Great Fire of London, Jack the Ripper, Sweeney Todd, all were realistically propped and acted out. The sights, smells, even temperatures. And then there were the actors - realistic and always in character.

And the piece de resistance - the rides. Unbelievably in this cramped arch under London Bridge Station, there was a "Boat Ride to Traitors' Gate" along a pitch black waterway. And finally - well I won't spoil it for anyone, but the "Extremis: Drop Ride to Doom" was unbelievable. Although as you'll see from the picture above, I look quite chilled - bored almost, although those either side of me were clearly terrified. I guess I must have been tired by then!

My advice if you decide to visit is to go to the website (click here) and pre-book a time slot to avoid the wait. But all in all, despite the eternal queueing, despite the not inconsiderable entrance fee - over twenty pounds for adults, over fifteen pounds for kids - it was still excellent fun.

CORE Fun Day

Saturday saw the 2008 Fun Day arranged by the Community for Oak Road Estate (CORE) group. Incredibly, it was even better than last year - more fun, more stalls, more people. The Halstead Brass Band were there, lending an old fashioned village fete atmosphere, and the Tri Star Twirlers gave a polished and - unusual given other majorette troupes I've seen recently - unsupervised performance, without an adult standing at the front prompting the steps.

Barbecue, tea tent, Karl's Sweet Shop, raffles, lucky dips, everything you'd expect to see. Gary the Community Warden and Liz Wadey were there, patiently watching their pristine police car being "washed" by young lads with water pistols.

It was good to see both the sound system and the bouncy castle, which I funded from KCC Member Grant getting good use too!

In all, a glowing testament to the organisational skills of Zena, Dave, Jackie and the rest of the CORE team. Well done - we're all looking forward to next year!

Spot the tabloid writer of the future!

I got a call this afternoon from my eldest daughter, who told me a week or so ago she had entered a 'sports journalism' competition at her school. Last week was school sports day, and the 150 pupils in her year were charged with writing an article on the event.

Frustratingly, she gets really self-conscious about her writing, which in my view (it would be wouldn't it) is way beyond her tender years. Consequently I can't get her to send her work anywhere, even though I'm sure she'd get published in a heartbeat.

Anyway, the entries for her competition were judged by Alex Spink, Sports Writer for the Daily Mirror. My daughter's entry was marked equal second out of a hundred and fifty, with the judge commenting:

"Spot the tabloid writer of the future! You have taken a theme - namely the
humiliation of the teachers at Sports Day - and really had some fun with
it. Less detail than the other pieces but it certainly made for an
entertaining read. Good stuff."

I'm incredibly proud - can't you tell? - and would love to find a way to encourage her to write more. I'm also genuinely grateful to her school for constantly finding compelling ways to make schooldays memorable and fun. But for now, it's enough to know that I'm not the only one that thinks her work is great!

Ray Lewis and Boris Johnson - the implications continue

As you'll have seen in the news, Boris Johnson's City Hall administrsation has been shaken by the resignation of Ray Lewis, Deputy Mayor with responsibility for Youth just two months after his appointment. Mr Lewis resigned amidst claims relating to his previous roles as a vicar in London's East End, and as head of a youth adacemy in 2003.

However, the resignation will have wide implications for local government. Sir Simon Milton, Councillor for Lancaster Gate ward and former Leader of Westminster Council took over from Sir Sandy (now Lord) Bruce-Lockhart as Chairman of the prestigious Local Government Association just a year ago, and has been acting as an informal adviser to Boris on planning matters. With the resignation of Ray Lewis though, Sir Simon has now accepted the role of Deputy Mayor, thereby causing his resignation as LGA Chairman.

Of course, we all wish Sir Simon the very best of luck - though a year was hardly enough time for him to make his mark on the LGA. But the question now is: who will succeed him? Various well known local government faces have mooted their intention to stand; indeed just last week at the Executive meeting of the Counties Councils Network, I was made aware of two more intended candidates. And depending on who succeeds as Chairman, more vacancies may be created in other posts.

The effects of Ray Lewis' resignation and Mayor Boris' reshuffle will, I suspect, be felt for some time in local government circles. At a time when local government seems to be held in low esteem by many in the Westminster village, the need for consistency in local government's representative body has never been more acute. Let's hope we can get the new office holders in place and get on with business.

KCC into the community

Yesterday was a really busy day - KCC's Cabinet visited Thanet. With all the excitement and chatter of a group of school children, we boarded an 8.30am minibus at County Hall clutching our coffees and bacon rolls, and headed off down the A2 towards Margate.

First stop Driot House Margate, and a briefing on the progress of KCC's Turner Centre development. Next stop Thanet Skills Studio to see the amazing new vocation training facilities for 14-16 year olds where young people learn, retail, motor mechanics, building and computing skills. Past the Eurokent Business Park to the superb new £22m Marlowe Academy, and a briefing by the head teacher, then on to Ellington School for Girls.

We travelled through Ramsgate Harbour en route to Kent International Airport at Manston, where Infratil Chief Executive Matt Clarke briefed us on expansion plans, then back to Margate for a visit and briefing on the Margate Gateway. By now it was 1.20pm and we'd had six briefings. We walked from the Gateway to the Margate Media Centre, where we had lunch with Thanet District Council's Cabinet and senior management ahead of our web cast KCC Cabinet Meeting at 2pm.

By the time we eventually arrived back at County Hall in the late afternoon, we were tired but felt nevertheless that this had been a really great way to take "KCC into the community"!

A Very Special Community.

On Saturday I visited the Pembury Fun Day organised by Pembury Baptist Church on the Recreation Ground. It was great to see such a well-organised event, with so many stalls representing local organisations. I was pleased to have been able to help out by giving funding to the event from my KCC Member Grant.

Hundreds of people turned up to hear and see local talent, to eat wonderful barbecue food, and just to be together. A range of inflatables included slides and bungee challenge, as well as inflatable sumo wrestling.

But most of all, it was great to catch up with Pembury friends and acquaintances old and new, and just to see the village coming together to enjoy a sunny Saturday afternoon. Pembury really is a very special community.

The Barna-Bus Pre school nursery - a runaway success

After two days in Westminster this week, on Friday I paid another visit to St Barnabas Church in St James, for the launch of the Barna-Bus Pre-School Nursery.

The event was really well attended, with representatives from Church, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and the Kent County Council Early Years Unit, Teresa Anderson, Head Teacher at St Barnabas Primary School along with parents and of course - stars of the show - the children themselves.

Father Ed Tomlinson, the real brains behind the vision talked about how the project had come to fruition. Having only just opened on May 6th some twenty six families were now atttending and by September this was expected to rise to around thirty two.

I was honoured to have been asked, along with Pippa Anderson, Head of the pre-school and of course the children themselves to plant a young apple tree to commemorate the launch. With such a runaway success already, I look forward to seeing the next phase of the project, the new Community Centre, become a reality before too long.

Over to you, Jacqui Smith...

The death toll from knife-related attacks rose again this week, with a thirty year old male fatally stabbed in Bolton; another in West Bromwich; a third at the "T in the Park" music festival in Scotland, and four more fatal stabbings in London on Thursday.

And the reaction from Government? Home Secretary Jacqui Smith intends to arrange for young people caught carrying knives to make visits to hospital emergency rooms to see victims of knife attacks, to talk to their families and to go into prison to talk to knife offenders.

So just how will that work then? If - God forbid - I'd fallen prey to a knife attack, it's hardly going to improve my chances of recovery to wake in hospital and find I was being asked to meet with a group of knife-carrying youngsters. And while I languished in intensive care, would my family want to discuss the experience with potential new attackers?

Of course not. It's yet another knee-jerk Government response which can't possibly work. Why not open up the dialogue with young people before they start carrying knives? Why not start resourcing our police force properly. Why not task them with making our inner city communities safer so that our young people feel valued and appreciated and don't need to carry knives in the first place?

And - stop press - I've just had an email from a constituent who's asking me how come at the car boot sale he went to today, there was such a large collection of sheath knives available, and why there wasn't a ban?

Over to you, Jacqui Smith...

When is a Mum not a Mum?

When is a mum not a mum? Apparently, when she lives in Merthyr Tydfil and wants to accompany her chronically epileptic son in a taxi to school. Because there she's defined as merely a "travel companion".

Because Jayne Jones can no longer travel with her 14 year old son Alex until her local council has submitted her to a Criminal Records Bureau check.

Apparently such checks are a "standard requirement" for Merthyr Tydfil Council.

Just how stupid are these people? So Mrs Jones can give birth to Alex, feed Alex, give the 24 hour care which Alex needs, and even administer the thirty two anti-convulsant drugs which Alex needs every day, but cannot be trusted to travel to school in a taxi with Alex.

For goodness' sake when is our society going to wake up? This is bureaucracy gone mad, and the sooner these pen-pushing idiots get replaced by people with common sense, the better.

Even young carers deserve childhood memories

This morning, along with around a hundred other attendees, I went to the Ramada Maidstone, where Oliver Mills and Graham Badman, Directors respectively for Adult Social Services and Education - celebrated the launch of KCC's Young Carers' Strategy, "Invisible People". In the photo above (from the left), Chris Wells Education Cabinet Member stands with Oliver Mills, Managing Director of Kent Adult Social Services, raham Badman, Managing Director of Children, Families and Education, and myself.

Graham Badman spoke about the close work with voluntary sector partners, and thanked the young people themselves for making sure that "Invisible People" captured the poignancy of being a young carer, and the challenges faced by the public sector in developing their potential. He stressed the importance of them having lives of their own, and being able to achieve what they want for themselves.

He talked of the survey KCC has undertaken in its schools; of the importance of them identifying who their young carers were and what their support needs were. He especially suggested that schools could do more to behave in a 'non-conformist' manner to support the issues young carers regularly face.

But the biggest impact of the event was from a group of young carers, wearing "Face Behind The Label" t shirts. Holding up an 'invisible people' banner, they introduced themselves, then asked society to develop more creative solutions. They stressed the need to build up trust to find the hidden carers; since many families were afraid to admit their children care for Mum or Dad, in case the child is taken into care. Of most impact to me was the number of young carers who - to escape the reality that is their lives - are substance abusing.

Explaining that the credit crunch was affecting vulnerable families, Graham Badman spoke about the need for quality food. Most memorable of all, he suggested that children to deserve their childhood memories. It is incumbent on us all to do what we can to make sure they get the childhood they deserve.

TN2 Community Trust - one year on and getting better every day

I went along to the Annual General Meeting of the TN2 Trust this evening. TN2, you may remember, is the community trust we set up to run the new community centre on Greggs Wood Road. It doesn't seem like a year since we opened the doors of the new building and let local residents take over.

Sadly, the outgoing Chairman, Zoe Jangaard couldn't be there as she's off with a bug at the moment, but Vice Chairman John Beadle read a report in her place. It talked about the extra numbers of people using the centre, the additional groups with which TN2 are working - the FRED Club and Four Walls, both working with disability groups. The new Toddler and Co group for mums, dads and child minders. The football teams who play in the sports hall on Tuesdays and Fridays. The Tea Time Club and the Leisure Group.

Above all, this was a story of local people. People who worked hard and learned new skills. And above all, people who persevere, day after day, to give their community better than it used to have. I congratulate the incoming Chairman, Lynne Weatherley - she's immensely talented and has a tough job ahead as the TN2 Centre takes the next leap towards self-sufficiency.

And - although not mentioned this evening - thanks should go also to Nazeya Hussein and Estelle Grant from Tunbridge Wells Borough Council who have worked really hard to support the residents in this brave new venture.

TN2 Community Trust - one year on and getting better every day.

The Village with a Heart

Yesterday saw the Pembury Primary School "Party in the Park" on the school field. The event, organised by the PTA, was massively well attended with literally hundreds of parents, children and friends enjoying a huge range of stalls, from tombola to china smashing, and from nail to face painting. Appearances by Premier Sport Football and Gymnastics, as well as the Pembury Youth Theatre Academy and Pembury Athletic Youth Football Club all added to the entertainment.

There was a well-organised barbecue offering hots dogs and burgers, and a bar with ice cold beers and soft drinks. Music was provided by RAM Discos, then between 4pm and 8pm by the appearance of excellent local band The Houdinis.

I was asked to judge and present prizes for a poster colouring competition, and later there was a raffle - all of which boosted PTA funds.

The weather added to a great afternoon and evening, and led one local friend to suggest that we should try and organise a twelve month video diary of Pembury - to show how everything contributes in their own way to the village with a heart.

St Barnabas Primary School - a hidden jewel

Tonight, I just watched one of the best school performances I've seen in years. The head teacher of St Barnabas Primary School in Quarry Road, Teresa Anderson invited me to attend the Year 6 production - Alan Ayckbourn's "Ellies Incredible Illucinations". I was shown to a front row "guest of honour" seat, and the lights went down.

This was a wonderful single act play, acted beautifully by almost thirty children. The backdrop - a living room, library and doctor's surgery - was superbly painted, the scene changes done quietly and efficiently by the children themselves.

The play started promptly at 6.30pm, and was finished by 7pm, leaving a packed audience cheering for more. St Barnabas CEP School really is a hidden jewel at the foot of Camden Road. More power to the Head and her truly passionate staff.

"Sort it out when you get off"

Interesting. I was on a train today going from Maidstone East up to London, when two youths got on and sat behind me - I couldn't see them, and could only hear their voices.

They spoke in faux Caribbean accents, and - stretched out across the seats - were playing rap music full blast from their mobile phone, making suggestive calls to girls, and swearing profusely when the line cut off.

A ticket inspector came down the carriage and when neither of them were able to show their tickets, they asked to buy two children's single tickets from Otford to Bromley South.

"£4.39" said the ticket inspector, and one of the boys produced a credit card - perhaps the inspector should have queried why a 'child' had a credit card?. Running it through the swipe, this was declined. "Alright, you'd better sort it out when you get off" said the inspector, walking away.

My point is, how can we expect young people to have any respect for rules when they're not enforced anyway? And how many times has that happened, pushing up the already over-inflated price of journeys for the rest of us?