Ross@Dover

High Speed Trains

2009-06-30T22:34:00.002+01:00

So the first domestic high speed service in the UK is running a preview service from Ashford International in Kent to St Pancras in north London prior to the launch of the full service in December.

Why am I seemingly so uninmpressed by this?

Well despite having shelled out the princely sum of £3800 for my season ticket I am being asked to pay a surcharge of £4 each way to use this service. I know this does not seem much given the fact the service takes almost half the time of the current one, but this an extra £40 per week, or £160 per month, or £1600 per year and then I will need to get the underground from the terminus to work adding another £600 or so a year to my costs and losing me close to half the time saving. In the interest of balance southeastern (the train operating company) are only actually asking for an additional £600 on top of my season ticket and the service will stop at Stratford International allowing me to catch a different underground line to work saving me around 70 minutes a day on my journey.

I am still unsure whether it is worth the extra £1200 a year to save me approx 12 days a year sitting on a train - I know that my billing rate is significantly higher than this per day, but I do not actually get these extra days...

Russell Gardens Dover 1

2009-05-07T20:45:00.002+01:00

Has the World Gone Mad?

2009-04-12T14:31:00.001+01:00

Or was it just her?

My partner and I were just out walking round Dover and the seafront, as always I took my camera with me (my recently acquired EOS 1D markII with a Sigma 120-400mm DG lens)as I wanted to take pictures of the gulls, the castle etc. Anyway we had stopped on the beach to enjoy the sun and a cigarette when I spotted two gulls sitting on the shingle so I decided to take some long shots of them (at 400mm). We then headed off down the beach (heading home), we had only gone a few yards when we heard shouting behind us, we ignored it as we assumed they were shouting to people further down the beach. The shouting continued getting closer, so we stopped to see what it was all about, only to be confronted by this shrieking Spanish woman. She demanded to see my photographs and to know where we were from, I declined to show her on the basis that she had no right to see them. She continued to demand to see my photos and then threatened to get the police as she believed I had photographed her; I told her to go and get them, if she did not then I would as she was now harassing me and my partner, at this point she backed off and we went on our way. She was no doubt hassling someone else.

I suspect that she was either slightly unhinged or that it was some kind of hustle to obtain money in return for not telling the police.

Well sorry, even given the daft recent laws in this country I can take photos of what I pretty much like without having to seek permission. The only provisos obviously are not to take shots of the police without their permission, defence establishments, also where the intentions is to sell the photograph then permission should be sought from individuals who feature prominently. It must be remembered that there is no law of privacy in the UK

ID Cards what is wrong?

2009-01-24T20:58:00.001Z

The ID card debate has reared its ugly head again recently in no small part due to the fact that the government have slipped this corker into the Coroners and Justice Bill, due for its first debate in the Commons on Monday 26th January, Clause 152 will allow ministers to make 'Information Sharing Orders', that can alter any Act of Parliament and cancel all rules of confidentiality in order to allow information obtained for one purpose to be used for another. This has the impact of converting the Data Protection Act into its exact opposite. Add this to the ID cards and we should all be very afraid.

It is clear that ID cards do not stop criminals, terrorists or illegal migrants; if they did the rest of Europe would be crime, migrant and terror free and it is not.

When you couple this with the utterly appalling record of the UK Governement in delivering secure IT facilities far less IT systems that actually work; along with the above gem of reduction in our rights one has to ask why any sane sensible individual would want to trust all of ones personal details and much more to a single database?

It is important to remember that our legal system here in the UK is based on the premise that the accuser/state must prove that I am not who I say I am rather than the other way round, coupled with the premise that I am innocent until you prove otherwise. We must not allow these principles to be undermined by ID cards or information sharing orders or any other hair brained scheme that this or any other government comes up with in the name of fighting the "war on terror".

We should also call on governement to think twice about further legislation at this juncture, whilst our legal system does have faults it most absolutely does not mean that it is at all sensible or safe to throw out centuries of tradition that generally works and replace it with diminished rights for all.

I recognise that there are loopholes in most of our laws, the governement needs to recognise that they are there because legislation is badly drafted, too often in a rush, as some sort of knee jerk reaction to perceived public concern. Loopholes also occur because the CPS are poor, the police too often skimp on evidence gathering and some judges are just perverse in their interpretation of the relevant statute.

Therefore what we need to do rather than churn out more dubious legislation that only has the net result of reducing the rights of the law abiding majority and reducing our freedoms is:

a) review the whole body of current legislation
b) repeal acts that are no longer relevant
c) repeal acts that are contradictory or contrary
d) review tariffs and set these to levels that genuinely reflect the severity of the crime and get the right balance between crimes against the person and crimes against property; with the former carrying more severe tariffs.
e) review judges performance on sentencing and retire, retrain etc as required.
f)review the structure, performance and remit of the CPS and conduct a root and branch overhaul to ensure that they do their job
g) Provide updated guidance to the police on their role in gathering evidence to make sure they carry out that duty correctly
h) Produce a statement that sets out in plain simple english the rights wea ll enjoy and the duties and responsibilities we all have.

Financial Crisis?

2008-10-27T22:20:00.003Z

So here we are in the depths of a financial crisis, credit crunch, recession etc.

What can we do?

As individuals, not a lot.
Of course, if we have savings we should spread it around UK registered / regulated banks to ensure we have less than £50,000 in any one (if only one were so lucky...).
For the rest of us who have personal debt, mortgages, credit cards etc. we need to keep paying them off as best we can, ensure we talk to our lenders as soon as possible if there is the slightest possibility that we might not be able to make a payment and trim our cloth as much as we can to ensure we can service our debts.

As a country, now that is a different matter, even in the face of the global nature of this crisis there is loads that can be done, such as:-

1. Carry on with the liquidity and capital support of the banks

2. Modify the terms of the support to allow moderate dividend payments after 12 months, but more importantly, to ease loan conditions particularly to small businesses.

3. Cut interest rates immediately to 2% and ensure that the banks reflect his in mortgage and loan rates.

4. Government needs to refresh its knowledge of Keynsian economics and start spending ideally on capital projects such as social housing projects, investment in the space industry, investments in infrastructure and transport etc.

5. Government also needs to step into the housing market and working with both the banks and the housing corporation look at buying out the mortgages of people in trouble and taking the stock into public ownership and then renting it back to them at affordable rents; thus bolstering the housing market by stopping repossessions etc.

Good Job UK Commuters Do Not Do This

2008-09-05T23:51:00.000+01:00

Tonight there was a failed train on my journey home that led to single line working and huge delays.

I normally get home at about 19:35 tonight I got in at 21:50 - thankfully we do not react the way Argentinian commuters did recently

Thoughts on arts driven regeneration

2008-05-10T17:38:00.002+01:00

Since my last post on the topic of arts driven urban regeneration I have been thinking about whether I was too harsh, or maybe not harsh enough.

I am becoming more and more convinced that the arts on their own cannot bring about significant regeneration. They can certainly act as a catalyst to draw in an eclectic mix of retailers, artisans and creative business, however on their own (i.e. studios and galleries) outside of major cities really do not have enough of a draw. Of course you can couple these with festivals etc. but they are a short term draw and whilst they might increase foot fall and spend for their duration they have limited long term effect.

Regeneration for places like Dover and Folkestone has to be a multi-faceted approach combining arts, industry, history, education, shopping, food, other leisure facilities etc. Without this combined approach regeneration is unlikely to succeed long term.

Eurostar

2008-04-13T19:07:00.003+01:00

As many of you may know Eurostar is the High Speed Train service between London & Paris and London & Brussels.

When the service first opened the high speed track only ran as far as Ashford in Kent; consequently, Union Railways and Eurostar built an international station there. This station cost them a pot load of money and for 10 years served both them and the people of Kent superbly.

Late last year the second part of the high speed line was completed between Ashford and St Pancreas in London. For reasons that I still frankly find unfathomable, Eurostar built a new intermediate station at Ebbsfleet (in north Kent). This is a place that has no existing rail connections, the nearest local station is 10 minutes by car and over 30 minutes on foot, if you dare walk, and is difficult to get to by car. They then decided to transfer the bulk of stopping services there from Ashford.

This now means that there are no services to Brussels and only 4 trains a day to Paris from Ashford.

Now this would be nothing more than an inconvenience if it wasn't for the fact that many businesses moved to Ashford because of the convenience of the train service to the continent and the fact that there is NO service from South East Kent to Ebbsfleet. This means if you now want to go to Brussels by Eurostar, you have to get a local service to London, get across London to the new terminus and then come all the way back to the tunnel in South East Kent. Frankly, this seems totally mad; and adds 2 hours to the journey time; so now rather than it taking 2.5 hours from Dover to Brussels I am looking at a journey of at least 4.5 hours.

Much as I love using Eurostar and use it regularly to get to Brussels, I shall now be investigating alternatives; the best I have found so far is to get the ferry across to Calais, the train from Calais to Lille, and then from there to Brussels either via Eurostar or on the regional railways. This takes the same length of time and costs significantly less money (£12-20 for the ferry, £1 each way for the bus to the station and £75 return for the train i.e. £97 against £170.50 - £52.50 return to St Pancreas and £118 return for the Eurostar).
I wouldn't even be investigating this if Eurostars to Brussels still stopped at Ashford.

It is a bit of a no brainer which way I am going to travel to Brussels from now on.

Big Fish - Small Ponds

2008-04-06T20:33:00.002+01:00

What is it about small towns that creates the "big fish small pond" mentality?

You know the sort of people I am talking about, they are the one's -
who always know what's best for the town,
who are forever criticising the efforts of the council, usually in the name of "the truth", but never put themselves forward as Councillors,
who are at the front of the queue for every function in town (especially when it is free),
who always seem to think that the rules do not apply to them, particularly common decency and courtesy,
that would like you to believe they are highly successful, but only run a local small business not some national or multinational corporation or even a decently successful regional business,
that cannot accept criticism of their views and opinions but always put down others when their views conflict.

You find these people in all small towns, populating the letters pages of the local rag, putting others in their places on the local web forums, agitating at local meetings (rarely if ever actually on the committees though), pontificating in your local pub and restaurant etc.

But ask them to get off their backsides and do something or take them out of the comfort zone of the little pond that is their local town and they disappear.

Oh I know I probably am guilty of some of these things, but certainly not all of them.

Royalty, the media and the military

2008-03-02T09:36:00.002Z

Many of you will have seen the interview or read the acres of press coverage of the deployment and subsequent return of one of the royal princes from Afghanistan.

I am a surprised by a number of things surrounding this:

1. that a serving officer should be deployed to a war zone - his birth right is irrelevant as he swore an oath of allegiance to Queen and Country and an oath to follow the orders of his superior officers.

2. that the media agreed not to tell his story until he returned - they did this for his uncle in the Falklands, they always do this for senior politicians, why the surprise when it is done now?

3. the media having agreed to not disclose his deployment blow it by the level of coverage on his return and the choice of words chosen to describe it - he is no more or less a "hero" than the men he served with or any other member of the military services that is deployed to a war zone.

Folkestone's Creative Quarter - new hope or false hope?

2008-03-01T22:49:00.002Z

So why are the creative businesses on Folkestone's The Old High Street / Tontine Street closing?

A number of businesses have either closed, are closing or are thinking through their options.

My own business has just closed its shop there and I know of one other retailer who will close at the end of this month and a number of others who are considering whether they can afford to continue in retail; previously 3 others have closed (2 of whom were tenants of the Creative Foundation).

The easy answer is too little custom but why? After all the area is supposedly being promoted by the Creative Foundation; a charitable trust whose remit is the regeneration of Folkestone's old town through the creative arts. The CF have a sizeable pot of money, not only from Roger De Hahn, but also The Arts Council and SEEDA, this has been used to acquire significant numbers of properties in the area and then to renovate them with the view of creating a vibrant artists community.
But something has clearly gone wrong so what is it?

From my perspective and that of others the problems are

too little footfall,
far too little footfall from the sort of demographic that can/will support specialist retailers,
too many lowlifes, junkies and drunks,
too many teenagers (after all they do not buy expensive discretionary spend items),
a landlord that has failed to deliver on most of its promises,
a landlord that takes far too long to get buildings repaired/renovated
a landlord that takes too long to let spaces it has renovated.
an area that still has an air of dereliction about it,
a council cleaner who doesn't do his job,
dog owners who will not clean up after their pet,
lack of local signage and advertising of the areas existence
a local population that prefer designer knock-offs to the real thing
local money that would not be seen dead in the old town

So is the experiment of Folkestone's Creative Quarter over?

Does this put the lie to arts led regeneration, where there isn't a significant well to do population within easy reach?

The really are out to get McLaren

2007-10-31T22:52:00.000Z

Another gem from the "impartial" president of the FIA.

They really do seem to be out to get McLaren and all because of some spat between Ron Dennis and Max Moseley over 20 years ago.

Do we all eventually become grumpy old people?

2007-10-28T09:38:00.000Z

Or is it because people are becoming more thoughtless and rude?

On Saturday's I get the train over to Folkestone, Kent to run my shop; 3 times on Saturday just gone, I had to literally restrain youngsters (by which I mean the under 25's) from getting on the train as soon as the doors opened. If I hadn't done so I might not have made it off said train and on at one occasion an elderly lady would have been trampled by them.

I also seem to have to spend a lot of time taking people to task for dropping litter in the street, far too often when they are only feet from a bin. This is not just outside my shop. It happens everywhere, where I live, on the train, where I work etc. etc.

And to cap it all today I felt it necessary to tell some bloke off for saying in a very loud voice as he passed a North African man and his wife who were talking to each other in their mother tongue "say it in English". It was just downright rude of him, as well as being racist.

Oh and don't get me started on the latest teenage fad of playing songs on the loudspeaker of their mobile phones...

Am I being over sensitive?
Do I expect too much?
Should I stop caring and be like the rest of them?

Is it me?

People get Paid for This?

2007-10-06T21:16:00.000+01:00

I see that this years IgNoble awards have just been announced. One has to ask what (other than the wages) motivated these scientists to research these things:

The awards, founded in 1991, mark achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think".

2007 Ig Nobel Winners
Medicine - Brian Witcombe, of Gloucestershire Royal NHS Foundation Trust, UK, and Dan Meyer for their probing work on the health consequences of swallowing a sword.
Physics - A US-Chile team who ironed out the problem of how sheets become wrinkled.
Biology - Dr Johanna van Bronswijk of the Netherlands for carrying out a creepy crawly census of all of the mites, insects, spiders, ferns and fungi that share our beds.
Chemistry - Mayu Yamamoto, from Japan, for developing a method to extract vanilla fragrance and flavouring from cow dung.
Linguistics - A University of Barcelona team for showing that rats are unable to tell the difference between a person speaking Japanese backwards and somebody speaking Dutch backwards.
Literature - Glenda Browne of Blue Mountains, Australia, for her study of the word "the", and how it can flummox those trying to put things into alphabetical order.
Peace - The US Air Force Wright Laboratory for instigating research and development on a chemical weapon that would provoke widespread homosexual behaviour among enemy troops.
Nutrition - Brian Wansink of Cornell University for investigating the limits of human appetite by feeding volunteers a self-refilling, "bottomless" bowl of soup. Economics - Kuo Cheng Hsieh of Taiwan for patenting a device that can catch bank robbers by dropping a net over them. Aviation - A National University of Quilmes, Argentina, team for discovering that impotency drugs can help hamsters to recover from jet lag.

Full story can be found here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7026150.stm

and here - http://www.improbable.com/ig/

Rugby World Cup

2007-10-06T21:13:00.000+01:00

So far it has been a really good tournament, some fantastic games, a few surprises (Argentina v France and today's quarter finals England v Australia and France v New Zealand) sadly marred by some of the worst commentary I have had the displeasure of having to listen to from ITV here in the UK

The end is in sight

2007-09-13T20:25:00.000+01:00

Sadly, it has become apparent that we have no choice but to wind down our couture shop in Folkestone and close it.

This doesn't mean the end of the business, we will just move on and run it in a different way, but still offering high quality, designer, made to measure women's wear.

The sad fact is that Folkestone is just the wrong place. I know that the Creative Foundation and Roger DeHahn have great plans for the old town, but the CF in particular move at the speed of a glacier. They have done too little too late in terms of making the streets look presentable, they still have done nothing in terms of promoting the area etc.

This summer has been awful, with little footfall, and almost no one parting with their cash. What footfall there is, is not going to be buying designer clothes etc.

We will be running a stock clearance sale from this weekend with mark downs between 25 & 50 percent - so if you are in the area and want a bargain why not pop in and make my day.

Good News For Dover

2007-08-31T00:14:00.000+01:00

The regeneration of Dover move forward with the announcement recently of government approval for the building of 8,000 new homes in and around the town.

This along with the continued development of the second phase of the White Cliffs Business Park, further construction in the Port Zone, the announcement of an eco-village at the old Connaught Barracks (500 homes), Buckland Mill development (1,000 homes) as well as continued progress with the DTIZ all bode well for the town.

All in all a good few weeks

Dover in Top 10 in a Poll

2007-08-17T23:01:00.000+01:00

Unfortunately it was the top 10 most disappointing tourist sites.

Having said that I am curious as to what people actually expected from The White Cliffs of Dover?

I mean they are cliffs, they are white (seeing as they are mostly chalk) and they are in Dover. There is a visitor centre, tearoom, car park, stunning views, interesting chalk downs flora and fauna - what else should there be.

Photography

2007-08-17T21:37:00.000+01:00

I have recently been looking to see how I could make soe money from my photographic hobby, particularly as many people have commented on the quality of my photos,

I searched around the web for suitable sites - believe me there are many many options.

Anyway as a start I decided to go with PhotBox and my galleries can be found here (note the link is also on the side bar)

40 years on - what's changed?

2007-07-16T22:08:00.000+01:00

July 27th is the 40th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK and the first steps on the long road to legal and social equality.

So what has changed in the last 40 years?

We have gone from homosexuality being a criminal offence via it being decriminalised (i.e. it was no longer an offences for consenting adults over the age of 21 to have sex in private), to today where not only is the age of consent the same for homo and heterosexuals but the state now recognises gay relationships (Civil Partnerships) that gives us the same rights regarding property inheritance, pensions etc as heterosexuals.

Having said that the fight is not over, as social attitudes still lag behind the law.

Whilst accusing someone of being gay is still seen as an insult there is still an awful lot still to do

Asda - DTIZ - jobs??

2007-07-04T21:44:00.000+01:00

I understand Asda (part of Wal-Mart forthose outside the UK) are going to have some form of PR stand in Pencester Gardens, Dover this weekend to convince us all how lucky we are to be getting a supermarket selling cheap? food, and cheap clothing made in far eastern sweat shops.

I also understand that they are talking of creating 400 jobs at their proposed new store in the DTIZ, my question is how many jobs will be lost when Somerfield closes, when QS closes, when the local butchers and greengrocers are forced out of business etc. etc.

I really do believe that this is not what we need in the DTIZ

How does one get that job?

2007-06-27T23:04:00.000+01:00

Envoy to the Middle East on behalf of the US, Russia, EU & UN that is.

I mean what was the selection process?

Who were the candidates?

And most importantly who is paying his salary? and therefore setting his agenda!

Proposed EU Reform Treaty

2007-06-21T10:03:00.000+01:00

Well it looks like the French have won the day in getting the latest draft of the EU reform treaty amended to drop the whole concept of "free competition".

This means that, if it gets accepted, that EU states will now be able to prop up ailing industries & saves the French government a pot load in fines.

On one level this is a good thing as it protects employment etc. however on the other side it will ultimately be the taxpayer and consumer who pay for this state aid through higher prices and taxes. Whilst this works for the interventionist mentality of the French and Italians it really doesn't work for the northern European countries.

Time will tell if this actually makes it to the final draft and into law.

27th July - it looks like the French have been forced to back off and whilst there will no longer be overt references to "free competition" in the preamble to the treaty the pre-existing legally binding protocol that enshrines "free competition" has been kept

Local Shenanigans 2

2007-06-19T20:05:00.000+01:00

Following on from the recent fracas and subsequent sovietesque deletion of old threads and dissenters accounts over at doverforum.com I still cannot log in and the proprietor is not responding to my e-mails asking him to tell my why I cannot log in.

Out of curiosity I do drop by periodically to see who is contributing and what is being said. I think all is still not sweetness and light as this exchange between on of our local councillors and the proprietor, on the thread regarding pictures on the sites homepage of the Hellfire Corner Weekend

suenicholas
18 June 2007 - 9:33am
... Regarding the picture Barry w.S i agree it was lovely as was the one of Alison but perhaps put under another heading. It was the event we needed to see...

PaulB
18 June 2007 - 9:41am
Just a note re the photographs..my remit is to photograph the Forumites out and about with the event, any event, as a backdrop. Through the years many other Forumites and indeed readers who cant get to events like this and so on were/are always delighted to see what other forumites look like, and what they get up to. Different remit than say a newspaper.

suenicholas
18 June 2007 - 9:48am
I note your comments Paul however as public money has been put into your business I question some of your policies. I have read several complaints over the past few weeks re the forum. It makes us councillors very wary whether it be posting on the forum or indeed sitting next to a newspaper reporter and getting qouted in Dubris.

It is worth commenting that despite Mr Boland making other postings during the day on that thread and others he has not responded to Cllr Nichols comments.

I note someone has just started a thread querying why there are over 30 less registered users now than there was before Mr Boland took the forum down for "re-assessment". Wonder if Mr Boland will dignify it with a response?

I will leave you to decide what this says about Mr Boland and also whether his forum is worth bothering with as any form of representative voice of Dover - I know what I think.

19/6/07 - Just checked the doverforum.com and the registration was working so I registered under the nickname I have had since school - that lasted less than 10 minutes before my account was kicked.
Oh and still no response from Mr Boland to my e-mails.
So I am still struggling to know why I have been kicked other than the fact that I disagreed with Mr Boland and had the temerity to suggest a more reasoned and moderate approach to those who disagreed with him might be advisable

Rushdie's Knighthood

2007-06-19T09:01:00.000+01:00

Why Why Why

Was this a deliberately contemptuous and provocative act by Blair?

On examination it is difficult to see any good reason for awarding Rushdie a knighthood

He has only written 13 books (8 novels & 5 non-fiction) hardly prolific

His books are not best sellers

His books whilst technically clever and well written are exceptionally turgid and a crap read.

He lives in New York

He has damaged UK diplomatic relations with the Middle East and Indian sub-continent

He has cost a pot load of police time and money.

Not really a glowing list of achievements especially not for a knighthood

Perhaps Blair just wanted to dump a pile of cack on Browns doorstep

[to the poster of the comment dated 12/10/07 - Rushdie has every right to say the things he has said and I absolutely back his right to say them even if I disagree with them or consider them to be ill advised. As we do not live in a Muslim state I do not consider that the reference to being either dhimmi or gay as having any pertinence]

Hellfire Corner Weekend - Dover

2007-06-18T09:56:00.000+01:00

Last weekend saw the now annual HellFire Corner Weekend at Dover - celebrating Dover's connection with the military with particular emphasis on WW2.

Whilst the weather wasn't great it was a good weekend with plenty of stalls, historic vehicles, people in period costume/uniform and a great collection of sets on the bandstand.

My congratulations go out to all those who organised it, and all those who gave their time to take part.

Here is a picture of the proceedings - I took over 50 photos mostly of the vehicles present, I will post more later:

Local Shenanigans

2007-06-17T12:49:00.000+01:00

Well, this last week or so has been an amusing one in the world of local online forums here in Dover.

Some while ago the only local forum (doverforum.co.uk) disappeared from the cybersphere for various reasons not least the volume of traffic it was receiving. The proprietor, took a while to sort through the mess etc. but successfully relaunched the forum and its associated magazine back in April (doverforum.com). Fairly rapidly a good number of people re-registered, including a significant number of town, district and county councillors, local business people etc.

All seemed to be going well until the local am-dram group (DODS) wanted to promote its latest production. For whatever reason the advertising they wanted to put on the site didn't appear so in order to promote their production a reasonable number of their members and supporters registered on the site and pushed the production as much as they could. This caused a few objections and some heated debate, which ultimately led to the administrator closing the thread and reading the riot act to certain members. The rather high handed way this was done caused a lot of consternation amongst many of the members and as a consequence there were many postings on a number of threads complaining about the way things had been handled; these posts varied from the fairly benign and supportive through to some that frankly were verging on being actionable under law. The situation was further exacerbated when Blackfish Academy started a thread to publicise their forthcoming show. The administrator tried to deal with this by setting up a single thread for "complaints" and discussion, sadly this got completely out of hand with a number of people posting comments that might well be actionable and these same people having their accounts deleted by the admin.

It all came to a head last weekend with the admin taking the forums down.

They came back this weekend, however not every previous member has been able to log back in (including yours truly) and the account registration process has been disabled. Looking at who is posting etc. it seems to be that the admin has only allowed back those people who either supported him during the "theatricals" spat or stayed out of it, or are part of his clique; anyone who was even mildly critical has not been allowed back so far.

Time will tell if this forum is going to get back to its former glory as the premier discussion place for the people of Dover or whether it ends up as a closed clique of the admin's chums and cronies.

Wild Flowers

2007-06-13T22:34:00.000+01:00

Taken on Dover's Western Heights 10th June 2007

Dog Rose & Bee

2007-06-13T22:04:00.000+01:00

Shot on Dover's Western Heights 10th June 2007

Moscow Gay Rights Arrests

2007-05-27T16:05:00.000+01:00

Despite all its progress in other areas, human rights are still seriously lacking in Russia.

During a gay rights protest yesterday in Moscow not only did right wing groups attack the march (punching, kicking etc.) but the police response was to arrest the protesters not those committing the assaults.

Those arrested included an Italian MEP, a German MP and Peter Thatchell a British gay-rights activist; the BBC has a video of him being attacked (here)
All 3 have subsequently been released however, the organiser of Moscow Pride, Nikolai Alekseev is still under arrest

Another Tory Education Gaffe?

2007-05-27T09:02:00.000+01:00

Hot on the heels of the "no more grammar schools" spat in the Tory party their Shadow Education Secretary has inserted both feet in his mouth again.

This time he is proposing that some schools should be allowed to operation selection based on race! Sounds like bussing to me!

It also flies in the face of the underlying reason for the "no more grammar schools" policy which was fundamentally a no more selection move.

This tinkering is nonsense.

Politicians of all parties have got to stop using education policy as a cover for social engineering.

What the UK needs is a high quality school in each neighbourhood staffed by dedicated teachers offering high quality education fitted to the needs of the pupils and the community.

Re-introduction of the "Sus" laws?

2007-05-27T08:51:00.000+01:00

The UK government is considering re-introducing so called "Stop and Question" powers for the police under anti-terrorism laws.

This would be a bad thing even if we believed that our police forces were capable of operating in an even handed non prejudiced way; however as we all know they don't this is a disaster in the making.

It is a return to the bad old days of the "sus" laws when Afro-Caribbean men were 5-10 time more likely to be stopped and questioned than anyone else, now we will see Pakistanis and Indians substituted for Afro-Caribbeans.

Ghostly Ship

2007-05-17T23:32:00.000+01:00

Here is one I took in the middle of the English Channel

METEKSAN Archery World Cup at Dover 31 Jul - 5 Aug 2007

2007-05-17T20:28:00.000+01:00

A world class event comes to Dover.

This year Dover is to host the final leg of the METEKSAN Archery World Cup between 31st July & 5th August. The event is to be staged at the Duke of Yorks Royal Military School which is situated next to Dover Castle (a World Heritage Site).

More information can be found at Archery GB

and the Archery World Cup site

This is a fantastic coup for Dover and hats of to the District and Town councils for attracting this event.

I hope that lots of people vist

Men at Work

2007-05-06T22:23:00.000+01:00

A couple of guys cleaning their gear after a day out fishing

Sarkozy Wins

2007-05-06T22:05:00.000+01:00

A sad day at the end of a sad week for the political left - the vast majority of the UK voted Conservative (lurched to the right? backlash against Blair?) in the local government elections and now Sarkozy has won the presidential election in France.

What I find galling, but frankly unsurprising, is this is the man that Blair and his cronies were hoping would win and yet they are meant to be social democrats; surely the antithesis of Sarkozy's UMP, with its protectionist, anti union, anti immigration, anti islamic policies and rhetoric
(hang on maybe it isn't that far from the christian democratic leanings of Blair)

I hold out no hope for French relations with the rest of Europe, the Middle East and even the US. Also Sarkozy has set himself on a collision course with the Central European Bank over interest rates and is likely to piss off the various European bourses and business groups with his desire to prop up ailing companies, pass laws to prevent non French control of energy companies etc.

Cheeky Squirrel

2007-05-05T20:15:00.000+01:00

Here is one I took a few weeks ago in the little garden next to the Jeffrye Museum in Bethnal Green

First Female Football Commentator on BBC MOTD

2007-04-23T19:40:00.000+01:00

This weekend saw a first for that venerable old show (Match of the Day) with Jacquie Oakley commentating on the Fulham v Blackburn game.

Frankly, this should not be a cause of comment, given her performance was such that it did not impinge upon the enjoyment and understanding of the game.
Sadly, there seem to be lots of people out there in the UK who are up in arms about it, have we not moved on from the 1970's?
Why shouldn't women commentate on male sporting events?
If they are good enough who cares about their gender?

More of the sea

2007-04-17T21:30:00.000+01:00

Just to show I take pictures of other places - here are some of Whitstable that I took recently.
The first shows Whitstable harbour with some of the Thames Array wind farm in the background:

The second shows my favourite subjects, seagulls and the seaside

When You Thought it Couldn't Get Worse

2007-04-17T21:05:00.000+01:00

It did.

A truly utterly shambolic performance by England in today's game at the Cricket World Cup.

Losing is one thing but losing by 9 wickets after only scoring 157 is something else. Yet another failure by Vaughan & Flintoff with the bat might have been liveable with, but when it is combined with failures by the normally dependable Bell and Pieterson then the chances of winning all but disappear. If then 2 of your better bowlers fail to perform (Mahmood & Panesar both being hit for 12 an over) there really is no hope.

Frankly it is now time for a complete clean sweep at the top of English cricket; with Graveney, Fletcher and Vaughan all needing to go; Flintoff needs to be rested and told to go and get his head together. Joyce and Cook need to be brought back to open the innings in one day games; they at least are likely to try and hit out unlike Vaughan and to a lesser extent Strauss, both of whom score far too slowly. Bell, Collingwood (captain?), Pieterson, Bopara and Panesar should stay; which leaves England looking for a young wicket keeper batsman, another all rounder (while Flintoff sorts himself out) and 2 out and out quick strike bowlers (Anderson & Mahmood are too erratic).

So easy then....

Another Shooting at a US School

2007-04-17T00:25:00.000+01:00

And yet gun control isn't even on the agenda...

But seriously, these incidents will just keep happening unless there are restrictions on access to guns and ammo.

I realise that it is not an overnight solution and that it will take years to change the underlying mentality, but if they do not do it now it will only get worse.

Dire dross

2007-04-12T22:31:00.000+01:00

England's World Cup cricket performances

They are truly and utterly appalling.

Lazy in the field, unimaginative with the ball and generally out of form with the bat and that is just the captain, Michael Vaughan. It really is time he was rested as he is doing the team no favours at all.

Andrew Strauss, whilst struggling for form with his batting, works hard in the field and has show himself to have a much better grasp of the best field settings to pressurise batsmen and the best way to use his bowlers on numerous occasions over the last few years - he should be promoted to captain.

Flintoff who is also struggling with the bat should be pushed up the order, ideally to open with Bell (one of the few positives for England in this World Cup), it might well encourage a more positive approach to batting and if he fails, Joyce or Strauss will then come in as number 3.

As I said above the positives from this dire showing have been:
Bell - in good form with the bat and a decent fielder
Pietersen - great with the bat though needs to concentrate more in the field
Bopara - a good lower order bat who is prepared to push the run rate along, a competent change bowler and good fielder
Nixon - a revelation with the bat which has just about made up for his rather erratic keeping &
Collingwood - a brilliant fielder and sound batsman who can bowl a bit as well.

Overall the squad is decent enough though too many of the big players have failed to perform at their speciality (Vaughan, Flintoff with the bat, Strauss with the bat, Anderson & Mahmood with the ball consistently enough)

Can they make the semi finals - yes but they will have to play much much better.

Do they deserve to make the semi-finals - no no no

The killing continues

2007-04-12T22:19:00.000+01:00

Yet more deaths in Iraq following a bombing at a cafeteria in the Iraqi parliament.

This really is striking at the heart of the fledgling democracy in Iraq.

It's not as though the targets were the international "peacekeepers", which might just about be understandable. The targets were clearly he members of the parliament and its workers. Clearly the perpetrators want to curtail the democratic process and destabilise further an already troubled almost dysfunctional country.

They offer no solutions, no viable alternatives and have no plan for the future. They cannot see past their prejudice and hatred for those who are not of the same sect as them.

Will this ever end?

Samphire Hoo

2007-04-10T22:18:00.000+01:00

Another glorious weekend another walk along the coast, here are some pictures taken yesterday at Samphire Hoo (land reclaimed from the sea using the spoil from the digging of the Channel Tunnel). It is a fantastic nature preserve with lots of rare seaside plants, insects, birds and animals if you are in the Dover/Folkestone area it is definitely worth a visit.

Looking east

Looking west

The main pond with reflections of the cliffs

I am still out there...

2007-04-05T17:48:00.000+01:00

Well Easter is upon us and I realised that I haven't posted for some considerable time.

It's just that I have been so busy both with work (I am a Project, Programme & Portfolio Management Consultant) and the shop (RB Scarlett Couture), that I have found it difficult to get the time to write down what I want to say. Perhaps, I should invest in voice recognition software so I can dictate stuff to my machine...

Anyway, I intend to post some stuff up over the Easter break, some about what I have been doing, some about stuff in Dover & Folkestone, and maybe even some about politics.

Channel 4 TV

2007-01-20T21:03:00.000Z

Amazing how C4 can go from the sublime to the ridiculous.

On the one hand there is a piece of tired, manipulative, but slickly edited television in the form of Big Brother and on the other there is one of the most engaging, informative and uplifting films I have seen in a very long time in Sisters in Law the multiple award-winning film from director Kim Longinotto, which follows the daily work of a small court house in the town of Kumba, in Cameroon. Shadowing a group of feisty female legal professionals, tackling cases including kidnapping and rape, the documentary presents a rare insight into the extraordinary lives of African women trying to make a difference in their communities. This is what C4 should be making / commissioning more of - truly fantastic.

Web Promotion

2007-01-14T16:49:00.000Z

How difficult can it be to get your website promoted?

I know it is fairly easy to submit your site to various search engines including the popular ones such as Google, Yahoo and MSN, but how do you get your site up the listings into a decent spot?

I mean one would have thought it should be about the relevance of your meta tags and site description to common search strings, but clearly from reading up on this that seems to be the least important things for the big search engines. It all seems to be about picking the right keywords whether they are truly relevant to your site or not and also spending a lot of time changing them to match the current hot words. Unfortunately, running a small business precludes me from having the time to do this - I hardly have time to regularly post here far less much else.

So what to do?

Any suggestions?

RB Scarlett Couture

2006-12-23T21:01:00.000Z

For those of you that are new to this blog, my partner and I set up a shop in Folkestone, Kent, UK back in April.

The shop sells made to measure and ready to wear woman's wear, all of which is designed and made by my partner.

so if you are in the area and want that special dress, coat, jacket etc. please do pop in and see us, we will be happy to discuss your requirements etc.

You can see more by visiting our website.

Planning Decision on our shop

2006-12-23T20:59:00.000Z

About 2 months ago our landlords applied to to the local authority to replace our shop front with a frankly inappropriate modern frontage. We formally objected and last week were advised that the local authority had rejected the application.
What a result.
The main reason for their objection was that the proposal was detrimental to the existing street scene and that they had failed to prove that the frontage was beyond repair.
A link to the case file is here:
UKPlanning - Case File

Folkestone - A Deal at Last

2006-12-02T01:02:00.000Z

The news is in - De Haan, Godden, Radnor & the SDC have at long last sorted out a deal.

As far as I understand it the arrangement that has been reached is that along with the Rotunda site Jimmy Godden will sell/swap/whatever all his properties in The Old High Street and Tontine Street to Roger De Haan/The Creative Foundation, Radnor will sell some land in the North West of Folkestone (via De Haan?) to Jimmy Godden and the SDC will sell the strip of land they own on the seafront to Roger De Haan. The upshot of all this is that it gives the Creative Foundation control of the majority of the properties on The Old High Street and a substantial presence on Tontine Street; Roger De Haan can now progress his "masterplan" for the harbour and seafront and Jimmy Godden gets a bloody big "retirement" cheque.

Is this good for Folkestone?

Well it does mean there is a clear vision for where the old town and harbour is going.

For myself I am not convinced that all of what is being proposed is right or even appropriate, but I am damn sure it is better than the Trent/Godden proposals for the seafront.

Whats your view?

Irrepressible.Info

2006-12-01T11:17:00.000Z

Amnesty International, OpenNet Initiative & The Observer have launched a new anti-censorship campaign and associated website called Irrepressible.info.

You can get involved by signing their pledge &/or pasting the button script (see the foot of this page) into your blog or website, or you could take part in one of Amnesty's letter writing campaigns such as the one in support of Shi Tao - imprisoned by China for sending an e-mail to a pro-democracy website.

Do not take the current freedom of the internet for granted, make sure it stays free by joining this campaign.

Folkestone Magazine - views on the regeneration of Folkestone

2006-11-29T22:42:00.000Z

Someone styling themselves "Editor Folkestone Magazine" left the following comment recently on one of my old posts:

"De Haan has always been a very wealthy man, it is only recently he became a very rich man so why wait until now when he could have refurbished the Old High Street several times since 1980.

He wants to reinvent Folkestone, to make it a much more enjoyable place to live and work and go to school – a successful community. He complains of delays, a lack of vision from officials that cannot see what he sees and those that put money before quality. He wants ultimate control without input from others, if established businesses are in the way then they have to go even if it means they go broke, some have to suffer for the benefit of the rest.

He complains of poor education yet as a major employer in the town he must have know how bad the local schools were yet again waits 30 years before he does anything.

SAGA, not the best place to earn a reasonable wage could have paid better wages increasing the spending power in the town. I understand SAGA asked for dispensation to avoid paying the minimum wage.

The De Haan family have made a large fortune out of towns like Folkestone, if SAGA had been good for Folkestone not only would Folkestone have three SAGA building, one designed by Foster it would have at least one very posh hotel it does not.

Is this a guilt trip or is the Master Plan the vision of a man who has lost touch with reality."

It closely mirrors an article on the Folkestone Magazine website

I understand the sentiments expressed and empathise with a number of them - I really would like people who read this and live in the locality to post their views on the above comments, Folkestone's proposed regeneration etc.

Are these men visionaries or idiots?

2006-11-12T13:30:00.000Z

There seems to have been a spate of stories here in the UK where people have made outspoken comments about the current status quo and the our climate of overbearing political correctness.

The following are fine examples of what I mean:

Jack Straw, the former Home Secretary - spoke out about Islamic women wearing the veil and how he felt it hindered communication. This opened a complete can of worms here in the UK but has at least opened up the debate on what modern secular Britain actually means and stands for. Should Straw have said anything?

Nick Griffin - leader of the extreme right wing British National Party made some very vitriolic remarks about Muslims and Islam for which he was tried in the courts for incitement to create racial hatred; he was acquitted on appeal. Details from the BBC
Was what he said fair comment or is the court wrong?

Mike Newell - manager of Luton Town Football Club spoke out yesterday about female officials in football - his comments can be seen here
Is he right or wrong?

There are many more but these are the ones that most recently caught my eye. Are these guys right? are they wrong? Should we limit free speech because we do not like what people say? Or do we have a robust enough society and sense of self to let people say what they want?

I know what I think, but what about you?

Airfix Saved

2006-11-10T13:08:00.000Z

Another piece of great news:

Hornby snaps up Airfix for £2.6m

A piece of my child and adulthood saved - fantastic.

Other takes on the story can be found at the following places:

The Register

The Scotsman.com

The Guardian

Financial Director

Reuters

Connaught Barracks update 2

2006-11-10T13:02:00.000Z

Great News

John Reid - the Home Secretary, has announced this morning that they have shelved plans to convert Connaught Barracks in dover into an open prison.

The announcement can be seen here on the BBC news site.
&
Here on Gwynn Prosser's (MP for Dover) site

Connaught Barracks - Update

2006-10-15T10:31:00.000+01:00

Well the governement still hasn't made a formal announcement.

However, they have announced the provisional governor (the current governor of the Immigrant Removal Centre) and been advertising for prison officers.

The campaign against the prison continues; there have been a number of public meetings, a protest march, a petition (over 12,000 signatures), a visit by the Prisons Minister which was picketed and a scheduled visit by the Home Secretary - John Reid.

It is not yet a done deal so keep up the pressure, if you haven't written to Prosser & Reid do so now.

Religious Symbols and Modern Society

2006-10-15T09:19:00.000+01:00

Starting from the premise that modern Britain is a secular society how should we view the growing level of friction over the wearing of religious symbols?

The current situation in the UK is that there is a growing backlash against the wearing of veils that hide the face. This seems to target Muslims in particular and let other religions off;
but wait it appears that certain employers have decided that the open wearing of a crucifix by their staff is also not allowed, whilst allowing the wearing of headscarves, turbans, kippahs etc.

This leads me to 2 questions:

Firstly, should we in the christian West (we cannot hide from that which has shaped our culture for 2000 years whether we like the end point or not) change our societal norms to accomodate others sensibilities?

And should secular societies accept any outward show of religious symbology?

The first question currently seems to be a peculiarly British issue (given the current legal position on the wearing of veils, headscarves etc. in most of the rest of Europe); and has its foundation in the desire of Blair and his crowd not to upset minotities (Muslims in particular). Back in the early days of mass immigration into the UK, incomers, whilst tolerated, were expected to conform to the general societal mores of the UK; somewhere in the last 15 years our political leaders seem to have fallen into the belief that we must not upset people; yet these self same people were not at the time upset! However, having been encouraged to find upset and offence they have done so with zeal; and we have allowed a small unrepresentative minority to become increasingly vitriolic, intolerant and vitriolic in their expression of their upset. We need to get back to a position where we expect and demand that all members of society conform to acceptable standards of behaviour, show respect and understanding for others beliefs, abide by our laws, etc etc.

As for the second question, of course we should permit it, provided it does not hinder communication, understanding and identification of individuals - the most telling example of this is the position Turkey (a modern secular Islamic society) takes on the headscarve and veil.

Dover's Connaught Barracks - The proposed open prison

2006-09-26T13:23:00.000+01:00

It was recently announced that the Home Office is now officially considering a turning the former Connaught Barracks in Dover into an open prison.

This is a ridiculous decision, for the following reasons:

a) There are 7 (yes seven) schools within close proximity to the site including the MoD's own open school - The Duke of York's

b) There is a housing estate right next door

c) There is also MoD housing close by providing accomodation for 100 Gurkhas and their families

d) it is right next door to the principle tourist attraction in Dover; the Castle and the coach park is next to the perimeter fence

e) The site contains a listed historic monument (Fort Burgoyne) that is in need of continuous maintenance, something the hard pressed Prison Service can ill afford.

f) Dover already has a prison at The Citadel on the Western Heights; this is currently used as an immigrant removal centre but was previously used as a YOI/Borstal and prior to that as a Category C prison (why not revert it to former use?)

g) Dover has the busiest ferry port in Europe making it comparitively easy for inmates to abscond to the continent - if recent press stories about the ease at which inmates in open prisons can just walk away are true.

For more information on the campaign against the prison proposal try Dover Soul and The Connaught Barracks Action Group websites.

Also all residents of Dover (and frankly the rest of East Kent) should write to the local MP Gwyn Prosser (his website is here or use the Write to Them website and John Reid, the Home Secretary, Home Office, Direct Communications Unit, 2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF & copy it to Gwyn Prosser.

Finally, for those of you close enough there is a protest meeting at Dover Town Hall on Wednesday 27th September at 7:30pm

Questions

2006-09-16T19:25:00.000+01:00

From time to time there are questions that I just cannot get out of my head - here are the current ones:

1. Will women, and to a lesser extent men, with a face full of piercings and numerous body tattoos live to regret it?

2. Why do old women were so much strong perfume?

3. Why is it that those people who constantly bang on about their rights never seem to accept, or understand their duties and responsibilities?

4. Why are fundamentalist so intolerant?

5. Why do governments lose touch with the electorate in their second term?

Pope Benedict XVI's speech

2006-09-16T18:33:00.000+01:00

Was Pope Benedict stupid, uncaring, deliberately provocative or all 3?

I am not sure that I know the answer to that question, but I do find the responses to it interesting, amazing, amusing etc. some examples of what I mean can be seen on the BBC Have Your Say pages

What interests me most about all of this is the hypocrisy being shown on both sides of the debate - The Vatican must have read, checked, re-checked and approved the speech; the response to it cannot have come as a surprise: the response was predictable in its form and seems to have matched the Popes words.

All of this was predictable and really did a disservice to the fundamental point that the Pope appears to have been trying to make - that violence is not a part of real faith/belief in one's god.

I leave it for you to decide if the Pope &/or the protesters is/are right, wrong, foolish or whichever combination works for you

Cricket, Cheating, Racism & Resignations

2006-08-29T16:36:00.000+01:00

I appreciate not everyone understands cricket and I do not intend to try and explain it here, for those of you who are interested in trying to understand it more the laws of cricket can be found here and a tongue in cheek synopsis of the game is here.

What I wanted to discuss here was the recent furore regarding Darrell Hair and the allegations of ball tampering against the Pakistani cricket team and its impplications for cricket.

I know that in many ways this appears to be small beer compared to the drug scandals in cycling and athletics, the match fixing scandals in football, the diving in football etc. but at its heart is part of the same "win at all costs" mentality.

The senior match official (D Hair) decided that in his opinion the match ball had been tampered with to give the bowling side an advantage in contravention of the laws of cricket. Simply, that is part of his job and he is the only one who can make that call. Unfortunately there is a "history" between Hair and the Pakistani's, in particular, and he could have handled the situation in a more sympathetic fashion than he did.

The upshot of all this was:
a) Pakistan had to forfeit the match
b) Their captain was charged with bringing the game into disrepute
c) Pakistan's team management accused Hair of anti Pakistani bias (they fell just short of accusing him of racism, other commentators did not).
d) The Pakistani coach called for the Laws to be changed to recognise the widespread use of ball tampering in the game.
e) Hair feeling pressurised offered in a private e-mail to the ICC to resign subject to compensation for lost earnings.
f) The ICC disclose the contents of the e-mails.
g) The Pakistani's back down from their threat to cancel the remainder of the tour of England
h) Hair retracts his resignation request and apologises for the e-mails.

The loser(s) -
Clearly Darrell Hair who was only doing his job and has been treated appallingly by his employer
Cricket, as it has been further dragged in the mud by cheats and bigots.

Should the laws be changed to accomodate the cheats?
No of course not, even where that cheating is widespread it is wrong.

Should teams be able to dictate which officials they will allow to oversee their games?
Again of course not, this leads the way to bias and the possibility of match fixing by officials

Does racism exist in cricket?
Yes I am sure it does, but probably to a much lesser extent than it exists in other sports, this does not mean those who are involved in the game should be complacent about continuing to try to stamp it out.

Digital Rights?

2006-08-28T15:55:00.000+01:00

So what is this DRM stuff about then?

Don't misunderstand me, I know what it stands for and the effect this has on downloaded music in particular; what I mean is what is the point?

I am not talking about the control of P2P networks and the thiefs that both upload and download from them; after all these guys & girls will find ways to beat the DRM so they can rip CDs/DVDs and make them available via P2P.

No I am talking about the likes of myself who would quite like to download music legally (paid or free - depending on the distributors business model etc.) and then have the option to put on the player of my choice and burn a back up CD etc. Unfortunately the varous flavours of DRM out there stop me from doing this (i.e. restict my fair use) either through restricting the number of times I can copy it from my PC to a music player/CD/DVD, or even more perniciously through denying me access to music I have downloaded if I stop paying the membership fee.

DRM does not and will never stop those intent on stealing others intellectual property, what it does do is stop legitimate honest users from enjoying their purchase to the full. The music industry needs to trust consumers to be honest (most are) and devote its time, energy and money to cracking down on the crooks.

Shop Update

2006-08-15T13:10:00.000+01:00

So another month on and we are still just about keeping our head above water.

We are getting a reasonable amount of interest and footfall but that has yet to translate itself into sales.

I am sure that this will change now the autumn ball and party season is fast approaching.

In the meantime Robin has some great ideas for coats, jackets and dresses for the winter - now all we need to do is source the material.

Some politics

2006-08-14T13:16:00.000+01:00

I have been watching the news with interest the last few days, following the security scare/clamp down at airports here in the UK.

I have been particularly interested in the consequences of this on the flying public and the response from the political and business classes as to how to deal wih it going forward and how this all sits with such things as environmentalism, equality, race discrimination etc.

Trying to take a big picture view of these things is difficult - which is of course why sectional interests such as business leaders don't and won't do it - it doesn't explain why politicians won't do so. I suspect the answer lies in populism and the desire to get re-elected!

Anyway, surely by making flying more of a painful experience, we will ultimatley reduce the number of flights, therefore reducing the environmental impact (especially as politicians will not create a level playing field by levying VAT on aero fuel)not only in terms of airbourne pollutants but also in terms of the impact on areas such as the Spanish Costas (close to environmental collapse), or fragile ecologies in Asia etc. If as a consequence no-frills air carriers are forced into price rises so be it...

As for the security issues surely the airlines should pay as they are the ones being protected. Despite the populist mantra in the UK media "little old ladies with knitting needles" are as much the potential terrorist as a British Asian student, a Catholic lad from Northern Ireland, a member of the NRA, a Chechen woman etc. We cannot and must not select groups for increased security screening solely on the basis of ethnicity or skin colour; we should however use intelligence led methods of passenger screening to identify potential threats and subject these individuals to an appropriate level of questioning etc.

It is too easy to allow hard won civil liberties to be eroded in these circumstances and we should resist all attempts to do so

Phew its hot!

2006-07-19T14:07:00.000+01:00

It is seriously toasty here in the south of England at the moment, thankfully my office is air conditioned as the outside temperature in the City of London is hovering around the 34-5C (93-6F in old money) with a relative humidity of 38-40% so its starting to get a bit sticky too.

The temparuture in our shop is rocketing, as we get the sun on the main windows for most of the day and the lights (27 50w bulbs) pump out a fair old lick of heat on top of that. Even with both front and back doors open to create a draft it is almost unbearable after 2pm. Ah well these things are sent to try us - my partner is going in really early to make dreses up before it gets too hot and then closing at 2 at the moment, however on Saturday's we need to stay open until at least 4.30 in the afternoon so lets hope it cools down a bit by the weekend.

Ahh July - its downhill to the finish

2006-07-10T15:43:00.000+01:00

So here we are into the second half of the year - lets hope it is a bit like coasting down hill on a bike from here to December; doubt it, but he one can hope.

Anyway, the football is over until August and England never did get better, did they! We had all hoped there was a good performance in the team waiting to happen; we are all still waiting... as for the rest of them, Brazil were awful, the Portuguese and Italians should all get their ears checked as they clearly have balance problems the amount of time they spend falling over, the French got progressively better; however it really doesn't matter if some greasy Everton reject suggest your mother was the offspring of a camel you really shouldn't go around headbutting him. Sadly, the best team didn't win; often the case in a game dominated by the cheats and the cynics. Thankfully England supporters in general took their demise in good stead with little or no trouble in most towns and villages following the game.

The house slowly progresses, the carpenter has thankfully finished, but is apparently on the verge of bankruptcy; the blacksmith should be installing the balconies over the next couple of days. Unfortunately, the railings at the front are not what we instructed the architect to get and whilst what has been installed is ok (great workmanship) they are not what we want(ed) and my partner has not mellowed to them one iota. I have been holding off suing the architect until the blacksmith finishes, as I do not want him caught in the crossfire, as he will need to build the new ones....

The business moves on slowly, we made a sale recently which is good, but we need more as it takes a fair number to cover ouur monthly costs. It is however early days, and we just need to keep on plugging the business wherever we can to improve brand awareness etc.

Business

2006-06-21T21:35:00.000+01:00

Well, we have been open for 3 weeks now and it is proving to be as tough as I thought.

There are a couple of major issues, that are not helping;

Firstly, the Old High Street is the major route down to the harbour and seafront, so at weekends at this time of year there are huge numbers of local yoofs, pramfaces with their rugrats and ne'r do well partners, 20 something yobs with attitude problems etc. none of which are condusive to attracting the sort of customers we want.

Secondly the Old High Street itself is a mess, partly due to the amount of building work currently being undertaken by the Creative Foundation, partly due to the Council failing to clean the street regularly and partly due to people just dumping their rubbish. This is probably a bigger discouragement to customers than the first issue.

To be honest the first issue is mostly a summer thing and as the street improves (i.e. as the CF finish and let properties) it will get better provided the council do their bit.

The upside though is the Channel Chamber of Commerce are putting together a promotion that will brand and promote the Creative Quarter; it will give the area a clear image and hopefully will lead to new customers.

Folkestone - Developers and Philanthropists

2006-06-21T20:11:00.000+01:00

So at long last Roger De Haan and Jimmy Godden are going to talk to each other about the harbour and sea front re-development in Folkestone; about time!

They have maintained a needless chirade of how they dislike each other and will not darken the others door; blah blah; for too long. All that has happened is that the value of the Rotunda site has climbed (potentially making Godden even more money) and other seaside towns are catching up or even passing Folkestone. For Pete's sake they are both hard bitten business men who know a good deal when they see one and know which re-development proposal is likely to attract consent, public support and funding. Roger enjoys being cast in the role of philanthropist and his publicity machine plays long and hard on his investment into the town via such vehicles as the Creative Foundation and his Harbour Masterplan. Meanwhile, Jimmy Godden appears not to, and probably doesn't, care what people say or think about him (provided of course that it is not actionable) particularly as he is the one with the huge bank balance etc. from his developments in and around the town. Neither does he care that most of his developments and refurbishments have done little or nothing to improve Folkestone, he made money that's all that matters to him.

Don't get me wrong; I believe that Roger de Haan wants to see the town improved through not only the Harbour Masterplan but also the activities of the Creative Foundations; whereas Jimmy Godden seems solely motivated by money.

Notwithstanding all of this what is good for my business is Folkestone cleaning it's act up (street cleaning, refurbished shop fronts etc.), redeveloping the sea front to create a magnet attraction, investing in and developing the further education facilities in the town etc. These all attract the sort of customers we (and not just my business, but the vast majority of those in the Creative Quarter) need and want. If Roger de Haan is the man to deliver this, through his leadership and business skills then he gets my vote.

World Cup

2006-06-21T19:47:00.000+01:00

Well roughly 2 weeks since my last post, it has been interesting.

On the plus side England have played well enough to qualify for the next round in the World Cup - so it has been happy drunks and little or no trouble. The bubble will burst - probably in the quarter or semi final then we will have trouble....

Brazil have been poor, the Argentines awesome, Spain and Portugal have started well unlike the French. It is still all to play for with some interesting 2nd round games.

World Cup

2006-06-10T20:38:00.000+01:00

So the FIFA World Cup is underway - at least England won the first game so the only problems were happy drunks.

The mess this morning in our local town centres was awful; not just the usual fast food detritus, but empty bottles, cans, puke etc. As for the alleys, side streets and shop doorways that had been used as toilets - YUCK!

God only knows what it will be like if/when England lose.....

Don't get me wrong - I love the beautiful game and have watched most of the games this weekend I just do not understand why people have to: drink almost to the point of oblivion; descend to the lowest common denominator when they are en masse; dump thier rubbish everywhere (particularly when there are loads of waste bins around); be totally xenophobic when they watch/talk about football especially when they have had a drink.

I could go on, but whats the point? I suspect anyone who is interested enough to have read this far will most likely agree with some if not all of what I have said! And those who it is really aimed at will not read it....

Studio Update

2006-06-07T16:52:00.000+01:00

Well folks we did it.

We have at long last opened - our first trading day was Saturday 3rd June. Whilst we didn't sell anything we got lots of favourable comments and a numbered of people who walked past looking, came back looked again etc.

On Monday we had a customer come in for a fitting, who has committed to buying a dress.

And finally the studio website has at long last been launched - it can be viewed here:
www.rbscarlettcouture.co.uk
Please do pop by and have a look and either mail us with your comments or leave them here on my blog.

Studio News

2006-05-28T02:49:00.000+01:00

After a few false starts We are now going to officially open on

3rd June

here are a few more pics of the latest creations:

Finally, the web site will be up and running next week

Studio News

2006-05-11T13:42:00.000+01:00

We have decided we are going to refer to our retail premises as a studio rather than a shop or salon. It works for us and I think says what is needed about the product we create.

Secondly the decorator has at long last arrived and it now looks like we might be open the weekend after next. To that end I shall be taking loads of pictures for our web site this weekend and launching it next week - please keep checking back for the latest update

Creative Foundation & Folkestone Re-generation

2006-05-09T00:23:00.000+01:00

The foundation are our landlords; they are a charitable trust whose remit is to re-generate the Folkestone harbour and old town area through the promotion of arts, crafts and education.

To this end they have devoted considerable resources to acquiring both property and land in the area. Much of the land is earmarked for the creation of a campus for the University of Kent to open an art school; this alone is fantastic not only for the town but the whole district. On top of this they are currently building an extension to their headquarters to include a theatre, offices, education spaces etc; another great addition to the town. Along side this they have embarked on a series of refurbishments of mixed use properties on The Old High Street & Tontine Street, unfortunately this is where things start to struggle as too many properties are being worked on at once, leading to issues around stakeholder management, communications, co-ordination and control.

Don't get me wrong, overall I think the Foundation has a world class vision of where they want to take the town. However, I do think they need to get to grips with the smaller scale works, define and publish a retail plan, define and publish a marketing strategy for the street properties (i.e. how do they fit into the overall marketing plan for the Foundation, what each party is responsible for, what sort of support is going to be provided etc.). They also need to think about how they deal with residential tenants in properties they take over, how they fit into the "new" community that is being created, what amenities are being provided for all the local tenants etc.

I would love to help them achieve a positive outcome to this, because I believe that what they are trying to do is build a new model for seaside towns in the 21st century. However, there really is only one shot at this as many other seaside communities are waking up to the need to do something similar and will start to compete for resources, tenants, customers etc.

At the end of the day, a positive outcome with the Foundation delivering its vision is good for my business and the businesses of the other tenants and we must work together, positively, to achieve this.

Latest Business Update

2006-05-08T00:44:00.000+01:00

Yet again I seem to have spoken too soon, the design firm used by the landlords have failed to provide a decorator to paint the front of the shop, despite being given authorisation to do so 2 weeks ago. Some things clearly do not change.

Thankfully everything else is moving forward, slowly but at least surely.

On a more general note The Old High Street is looking really tatty at the moment, there are number of shops being refurbished by our landlords and their builders seem not to give a damn about the noise or mess they create, the semi-derelict state they leave the shops in, or the attitude and foul mouths of some of their employees. I mean business is difficult enough, without these people working to make it even more difficult.

On a positive note a new shop has opened - Gallery 49 - an art gallery and picture framers, they seem to be keeping their heads above water so far, I wish them every success.

Anyway enough from me for now - the shop web site is almost complete it should launch next weekend and there will definitely be more pictures here next weekend as well.

Paint, Cards & Fabric

2006-04-25T11:56:00.000+01:00

Some good news on all fronts:

The landlords have agreed to repaint the shop front as there have been significant delays around their planning application to replace the shop front. This is great news as the uncertainty over the frontage was holding up the opening of the shop.

On the subject of cards the Streamline rep agreed to a reduction in the joining fee after some pestering from me - any money saved is a good thing.

And finally onto fabric, we have got an introduction to a woman who owns a clothing company and has access to factories, wholesalers etc in Hong Kong - this should mean that we will be able to get items such as plain bustiers and basques(cannot find them for love nor money here) and perhaps access to some interesting fabrics.

Thats all for now

P.S. Previous shop pictures can be viewed in the archives - 5th April and 15th March

Some more from the shop

2006-04-24T00:01:00.000+01:00

Here is some pictures of "work in progess"

Here is a close up of the skirt section

And here is the same piece but in a silver grey lace

Shop / Business Update

2006-04-20T00:54:00.000+01:00

Robin is currently working on a couple of dresses made from lace and silk - pictures to be posted this weekend.

As for everything else we should be open for business in about 4 weeks time - it really depends on having a good selection of samples made up to show the rane of things Robin will/can make.

I have loads of admin type things to do for the shop/business including track down the electric supplier, chase the bank about financing and credit card facilities,do the company tax and employment return, check with Companies House about any returns they require, keep the accounts up to date, sort out the signage, chase the landlords regarding the shop front etc. etc. Clearly no rest .......

Another Sample Dress from RB Scarlett Couture

2006-04-14T09:57:00.000+01:00

A slightly more summery one this time.

As a bonus you also get to see some of Robin's workroom

More Shop Photos

2006-04-12T00:31:00.000+01:00

Dear readers here are 4 pictures of the first sample dress for the shop - hope you like it

Please check back as I shall be posting photos of Robin's creations each week until I get the business web site built (www.rbscarlettcouture.co.uk)and I might keep posting once it has been as a way of capturing feedback etc.

Shop Photos

2006-04-05T00:06:00.000+01:00

As promised here are some of the latest shots of the shop:

Towards the front door

Looking towards the front left hand window

Looking towards the back of the shop

The changing area

As you can see we are almost finished - my partner is now starting to make sample dresses. The red dress is a taster to get people to look in the window, it will probably never be finished....

Shop Pics

2006-04-03T00:44:00.000+01:00

Apologies

Haven't downloaded the pics from the cameras yet - hopefully later today

Shop Update

2006-03-31T20:20:00.000+01:00

Hello again,

Another week has gone by, with my partner buying lots more fabric (mostly chiffons) for the shop and making lots more drawings of ideas for dresses etc.

As for the shop itself, we have at long last fixed all the mirrors in their final positions etc., all that is now left to do is some minor finishing in the workroom, and the false fabric ceiling in the shop.

Other things of note this week, were we ordered the bags, agreed on a colour for the outside of the shop and sorted out the phone line (BT want a £300 deposit - bloody outrageous), on the down side I still cannot track down who our electricity supplier is. Also got the usual stuff from the tax man, will need to talk to them next week and find a decent accountant (more expense...)

Anyway, I will post some more pictures tommorrow of the shop.

Resource Modelling

2006-03-30T14:28:00.000+01:00

Success.

Have just finished building a resource model for projects at my current employer. The Boss loves it.

It's fairly simplistic at the moment as it flat lines resource use across the whole life of the project, but it actually works when validated against actual project plans.

The next iteration will, hopefully, model the peaks and troughs, around initiation, definition, execution and closure of the project - that really will move us forward with resource planning & sceduling.

Update (12/4/6) - I made it a bit more sophisticated and managed to drill down to job types amongst technical staffs (BA's, developers, contractors etc.) - They like it so much they wan me to re-run it on a monthly basis...

Ubuntu

2006-03-28T23:22:00.000+01:00

Loaded the Ubuntu distribution of Linux on my desktop machine last night - couldn't have been easier.

It went like a dream; loaded first time straight off the CD, auto updated itself and all the apps that come with it - sweet.

I set the machine up to dual boot but may well strip off the MSXP install given how easy Ubuntu is to use etc.

Another apology and an update on the shop

2006-03-26T23:52:00.000+01:00

Hello again,

I know I have been very lax at keeping my blog and therefore all of you up to date, but it has been hectic with the shop.

Any way we had some more mirrors delivered on Friday, these ones are for the workroom area, having said that they were pretty big - 1m x 1.5m - it was a struggle hanging them, but we got them done. Also we managed to get the mini chaise re upholstered and it looks fantastic. Pictures to follow once I have downloaded them from my camera.

The web sites for both the shop and the Ltd company are still not started - too busy finalising the shop fit - I will get them done before we open though.

Anyway that's enough for now - paying work in the morning .......

Shop - Latest

2006-03-15T23:13:00.000Z

Well at long last we are in and getting the shop ready for our grand opening.

Here are some pictures of the interior:
The shop after it had been painted but before the mirrors arrived

looking to the front of the shop

2 of the mirrors

Free Speech, Tolerance and Respect

2006-02-09T14:40:00.000Z

I have deliberately and studiously attempted to avoid the whole thing around the "Danish" cartoons.

Having said that what interests me is not the initial motive for commissioning them or the decision to publish, nor for that matter the wholly understandable upset (well the peaceful bits anyway)of Muslims but the following:

1. The time dislocation between their initial publication in Denmark and the subsequent "outrage".

2. The blatant political motivation of other news outlets in reprinting the cartoons once they were aware of the reaction they were causing - you would have thought the French would have known what to expect after their recent history.

3. The outrageous manipulation for political ends by various Islamic factions and the West's apparent surprise at this

4. The frankly crap mainstream media reporting of this and the reasons for it

5. And finally, the hypocrisy shown on all sides of this sorry issue.

House Update

2006-02-09T13:55:00.000Z

Well we are slowly getting there with the house, though like all building works the costs always seem to escalate.

The carpenter is getting on with the windows, though his costs have gone up 20%. The roof was finished on busget at least. Still waiting to hear about the blacksmiths costs though.

As for the builder to redo the york stone steps I eventually managed to beat him down by 50% through a combination of finding a more reasonably priced supplier fo the stone and cutting out unnecessary work.

Shop Update

2006-02-09T13:37:00.000Z

After some rather heated exchanges things are looking a bit more promising.

Have now reached agreement around the lease and start date and we seem to be making progress around the snagging items.

Looks like we will take possession of the shop in early March, though we are unlikely to open for trade until the shop front is replaced in some 10 weeks or so.

More Shop News

2006-01-24T13:06:00.000Z

Clearly I spoke to bloody soon

Here we are 6 weeks on from my last post and we still haven't moved in.

The landlords, their designers and builders are hopeless, I am still waiting for them to contact me and advise when they will resolve the snagging items so we can move in.

What miffs me is that this is in excess of a 100% overrun on time, yet no one has in all that time actually called me and let me know there was a problem, it was always me having to ask them....

Anyway, for those interested, the shop is at 65 The Old High Street, Folkestone, Kent
(the old Spectrum Music shop).

We will be selling made to measure and limited edition womanswear, all of which will be designed and made by my partner.

Finally apologies to those who do check out my site for the infrequency of posting, but work, the house and the shop have all been consuming my time.

Shop News

2005-12-04T12:39:00.000Z

Well, at long last some good news about the shop.

We were advised on Thursday, by the landlords, that we will be able to move in in 2 weeks time. Nicely coincides with me finishing work for Xmas. So we will be able to get the shop fit done and all our stuff moved in before the end of the year, giving my partner, Robin, the whole of January to make up samples, stock etc. More importantly, its another month to raise the money....

Competence - a curse or a blessing

2005-11-28T12:52:00.000Z

Good save me from incompetent people

oh and those who think they are more competent than they actually are.

My f***ing architect is useless. Not only have we ended up with 2 dormers of different sizes (they were meant to be identical) because he failed to check his own drawings against the carpenters work on his last site visit, we have 2 sash windows that are too bloody small because he failed to supply drawings to the guy making the windows.

To cap it all the carpenter used timbers that were a different size from the original timbers so I am now going to have to batten out part of the roof to get a level on which to secure plasterboard - the architect saw this and said nothing to the carpenter.

Finally the window guy (a different carpenter) installed the front sash window in the attic but didn't ask if he should straighten up the window cill at the same time - DOH!!!!

Now I have to write a shi**y letter to the architect telling him that he needs to get the problems sorted at his cost etc. etc.

If only he had done his damn job in the first place.

UK Anti Terrorist Law - proposals

2005-11-08T12:41:00.000Z

So Blair and his cronies are trying to muscle their ludicrous 90 day detention proposals through the house.

This would be offensive enough from a right of centre government, but from a government that is supposed to be social democratic in inclination it is abhorrent.

Allowing the police to have the right to detain suspects for up to 90 days is not only unacceptable it is also counterproductive. Clearly the lessons of internment have not been learnt by this government, detaining people without trial creates heroes/martyrs and rallies those teetering on the edge to the terrorist cause. Further whilst they are not inherently bad, the police have consistently proved that they cannot be trusted and as such the decision to detain anyone beyond the current 14 days must be solely decided by a judge. If the police cannot show sufficient evidence to demonstrate to a judges satisfaction that they a)have reasonable grounds for the initial detention b)reasonable grounds for assuming further detention will garner further information then that's that.

You do not defend liberty by removing it

What is worse is that despite Blair's rhetoric and that of the redtop press this proposal is actually out of step with public opinion as evidenced by all the recent opinion polls that asked.
Hopefully there are sufficient people of principle in the house that they will not be cajoled into passing bad law.

Update
Thankfully the Commons saw swnsw and threw out the 90 day detention clause in the bill.

Catching up again

2005-11-08T12:27:00.000Z

Here I am back again.

Apologies to any of you who view my blog regularly for the utterly sporadic nature of my postings lately, this is due to the competing pressures of the house renovation, setting up a new business, my job.....

Anyway, the house is moving on (slowly) with the roof now finished except the installation of new windows, the rest of the windows need to be refurbished / repaired but they can be done one at a time with minimal disruption and the blacksmith is pressing on with making new railings, balusters and balconies after which the refurbishment budget is well and truly blown...

As for the business we are moving ahead with that, we now have a lease for the shop (see previous posts) but are still having problems with the interior designers who are utterly clueless and deliberately or otherwise are failing to understand what we want. Other than that we now have sourced all the furniture, have the bags and mirror frames on order, have all the wall lights and the chandelier, are just about to order the fabric etc. for the ceiling, have all the mannequins etc.. We still have a few things left to get/sort out but we are just itching to get in and get started.

Finally, the job is good but hectic as I am running up against deadlines for the completion of the rewrite of our project methodology, training courses around "planning & estimating" and "stakeholder management" as well as the usual month end reporting.

That's enough about me for the moment - I will be posting a few other items around current UK politics shortly.

They are at it again

2005-10-25T13:31:00.000+01:00

Is there a major streak of masochism in th US Senate?

Having been givn a sound whooping by Gorgeous George Galloway once they seem intent on doing it all over again, following recent accusations appearing in the news media.

It should be fun if nothing else, particularly given Galloways penchant for showboating...

Busy Busy Busy

2005-10-23T09:36:00.000+01:00

Another 10 days without a posting - we are just so busy

Work is hectic as I am trying to finalise the next edition of our Project Management Methodology Handbook as well as write training course on Planning & Estimating as well as Stakeholder Management.

The house is slowly moving forward, with the roofers carrying on with the work when its not raining, however, I seem to spend far too much time chasing the architect for updates on what is happening with the other tradesmen. The bloody carpenter was meant to be here over 2 weeks ago to take measurements of all the windows so he could get on and make new sashes etc. but we haven't seen him. The blacksmith is apparently making the railings etc.; but we still cannot agree on a builder to repair the steps to the front door so who knows when things will actually be fitted. To cap it all one of our neighbours had some original balconies, that they removed - if we could have used them to take casts we could have saved over £2k but the bloody things have disappeared.

The shop is proving to be a complete pain in the butt. The landlords designers are crap; cannot cope with other peoples ideas and bereft of truly artistic ideas themselves. The builders are pressing on with the refit, but we cannot get the measurements we need to enable us to order the mirrors we want (best estimate at the moment works out at close to £2.5k). My partner is busy e-baying for mannequins and wigs, I wish he would get himself up to London to track down fabrics that is far more important. As for me I am trying to keep a lid on the spending as our set up budget is really tight, what with the mirrors, furniture and packaging we have already committed a big chunk of the budget...

For those of you who are interested here is photoot of the street the shop is on

the right hand side - the one with the hanging sign and the side window.

Must get on as I have to make some screens, repaint a mannequin, send another e-mail chaser to he architect etc etc.

Hello All

2005-10-13T00:16:00.000+01:00

Apologies for the length of time since my last post but I have been really busy with the house, the creation of my partners Couture business as well as my day job. On top of that my laptop died on me when it got dropped down the stairs by accident and my boss at work cautioned me (in a very friendly non confrontational/judgmental way) about appearing to spend too much time on the internet.

Anyway the house progresses slowly, the roofers are currently here re-slating the roof and putting a new dormer in (well actually they are not as it is raining) the carpenter is due to start on the windows soon (I hope) and I am trying to get a sensible quotation for York Stone (the architect got a quote for Â£3,500 yet York Stone is only £60-80 sqm).

The shop is progressing as well - a bit faster than the house - we have meeting with the interior designer later this week.

Any way folks I must get off to bed as I have to be up in 5 hours to go to work

Will try and post a bit more regularly from now on.

Apologies For

2005-09-28T15:59:00.000+01:00

my absense over the last few weeks, firstly I had a weeks holiday, then on my return to work it was mentioned to me in passing that "people" had "observed"/"mentioned" that I seemed to spend a lot of time on the internet; consequently I have had to be a good boy and avoid using it.

I will be trying to get back into the habit of posting something on at least a daily basis, but now I will have to do it from home in the evenings.

Ah well needs must and all that

Back Again

2005-09-19T10:58:00.000+01:00

Apologies to those of you who pop in here regularly, for the lack of recent posts, this has been due to me being on a weeks holiday.

So what happened when I was off -

The Ashes were won by England after a thrilling drawn game at the Oval

The Premiership (soccer)has been going for a couple of weeks (6 games) and Chelsea are already 6 points clear of the team in second place having won all their games so far.

As for me - we worked on the house and got all the things done we wanted to, so that is good; hopefully the scaffolders turned up this morning and every thing is now ready fr the roofer to do his stuff.