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!

Won't be making that mistake again!

I arrived at County Hall first thing to find a whole batch of emails telling me I had used a photo from Eastcliff Richard's blog site. How this happened is neither here nor there, but the fact is I had put a picture of Droit House in Margate on my posting about KCC's Cabinet visit to Thanet last week.

I removed the picture of course, and sent profuse apologies to Eastcliff Richard. As a gesture of goodwill, I also put a link to his website on my Wordpress blogroll. But it made me realise how easy it is to transgress the blogger's code.

Won't be making that mistake again!

Well done Gordon - another stroke of genius

I see Gordon Brown has given the Palestinians £30,000,000 of British taxpayers' money to the Palestinian Authority to assist in 'rebuilding' their neighbourhoods. He has also offered that Britain will train the Palestinian police force, and that he will host an 'investment conference' for them in London.

One or two questions arise. Why thirty million pounds? Why Palestine? And why now? At a time when oil prices have never been so high, what is our Prime Minister doing offering British financial aid and assistance to Palestine? What does he think the reaction of the Arab states will be to this?

If that wasn't enough, Mr Brown has also aggravated the Israelis by criticising their policy of building settlements on disputed land. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at a press conference. "You criticised our settlement policy, and I tried to explain to you the restraints that we put on ourselves on the one hand, and the need to keep the pace of life going on the other. While you disagree with us I hope you understand the position of Israel." It remains to be seen what pearls of Wisdom Mr Brown will have for the Israeli Parliament - the Knesset - when he addresses them on Monday.

Well done Gordon - another stroke of genius.

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.

A long-overdue message

With the news of still more knife-related attacks and deaths over the last couple of days, an email I have received from a constituent seemed both chilling and relevant. Why, he asked, at a time of almost daily murders and assaults involving knives, when visiting a local boot fair was he presented with an alarming choice of hunting and sheath knives on sale to the public?

Of course, he had a point. I contacted Kent Trading Standards and spoke also to my Cabinet colleagues about this, suggesting that it would be setting a strong lead if KCC were to ban the sale of knives at boot fairs on any land or property owned by the County Council. My Cabinet colleagues agreed, but then we discussed the mater further.

Ban the sale of any knives? But where does this stop? Does this mean you couldn't buy a penknife? A set of steak knives? Would you contravene the law if you attempted to sell a canteen of cutlery?

Clearly the issue is a little more complex than could be solved by a simple dictat. But I won't let this drop. This week I'll speak again to our Trading Standards officers and come up with a way to prevent the casual sale of dangerous knives at boot fairs on KCC land. Who knows - maybe other councils - even other boot fair organisers - will follow suit and we can begin to send a long-overdue message.

Margate - a special place in my heart

Earlier this week I wrote a post about the Kent Cabinet trip down to Margate on Monday. As a result, I received a comment from Tony Flaig at Bignews Margate: "Maybe you should have stopped by at the offices of Bignews Margate, for a bit of enlightenment."

I was intrigued by this comment, so looked up Bignews Margate on Google. It's a blog site run by Tony Flaig, a track worker living in Thanet, and bills itself as "Thanet's Leading Politically Independent Blog". You can reach it on http://bignewsmargate.blogspot.com/.

Anyway, Mr Flaig ran a piece on KCC's Cabinet visit to Thanet last week, "Maidstone comes to Thanet" which very kindly cross-links to my Thanet story in the interests of balance. I felt it was the least I could do to reciprocate and give Mr Flaig's site an airing here.

For information, having grown up in Bermondsey, Margate (and Dreamland!) used to be the 'Big Day Out' with my brothers, parents and grandparents for years. In my teens, I often drove my little Mini from South East London down to Margate, and I still regularly visit. Indeed a couple of years ago I nearly moved to Margate - it holds a very special place in my heart.

As an ambassador, County Councillor Clive Hart is excellent - he regularly sends other KCC Members email updates on events and press comment on Thanet in general and Margate in particular, and sent Cabinet Members a message giving us details of where to visit if we had a spare half hour during our visit. If you've read my posting on Monday you'll know how little time we had to go walkabout. But I make this promise - I will bring my family down and follow Clive's suggestions. Who knows - perhaps Bignews Margate will mention that?

TeleHealth and the County Show

I forgot to tell you - when I visited the County Show last weekend, I got chatting to the Social Services officers manning the TeleHealth stand. The TeleHealth programme, you may recall from earlier postings, allows Kent residents with limiting long-term conditions such as COPD, diabetes, high blood pressure etc, to receive equipment from Kent Adult Social Services which enables them to take readings such as blood sugar, blood pressure, blood oxygen, weight and so on. These readings are then sent by telephone to their GP and thus avoids the need for surgery visits or hospital appointments.

Our staff told me that two people had specifically visited the County Show this year for the purpose of finding the Kent TeleHealth stand. It seems that at last year's show, both people volunteered to have their readings taken on the stand.

Armed with these readings, one person apparently visited their doctor, who alerted by our TeleHealth data, identified a limiting long term condition which can now be treated in time. The other person shared the data with his GP, who as a result then reduced the medication which this patient has been taking.

Neither of these stories represents a sound clinical case study of course, but just imagine the difference in health outcomes if all Kent residents had access to TeleHealth equipment?