Live Blog: Rebecca Presents Her Daylight Saving Bill To Parliament

Calling All Castle Point Residents – And Bloggers!

THIS FRIDAY, the 3rd December, the Canvey Beat will be venturing into live Blogging with coverage of our local MP, Rebecca Harris, as she presents her Private Member’s Bill to the House of Commons. Live coverage will begin here at 9.00am and continue until the vote has been counted.

Visitors will be able to contribute by commenting; asking questions; and contributing to various live polls throughout the time the broadcast remains ‘on air’ – and any local Blog will be able to carry the feed (to ensure their readers remain on their sites) by simply emailing me a request for the embed code.

Neville Congratulates TC On ‘Spectacular’ Event –But Fails To Acknowledge Those Whom Made It All Possible

NEVILLE WATSON, Castle Point Borough Councillor for Canvey’s Winter Gardens Ward, decided to use the Canvey Island Independent Party’s Blog, yesterday, to congratulate the Town Council on its £20,000 Christmas event, held last Saturday.

Neville makes no mention of his recent call upon councillors to reduce their allowances – or mention the fact that his party, currently in control of the Town Council, has budgeted to introduce lucrative personal allowances for its members this year.

Perhaps that sordid matter has just been brought to his attention, and he has decided to remain quiet.

And Now – A Local Newsreel Widget

READERS WILL KNOW that I am not a particular fan of the local Echo’s coverage of Canvey Island politics; but that I nonetheless provide its daily feed in this Blog’s widget columns. Also, regular guests will know that the Canvey Beat used to provide feeds from the Telegraph, the Daily Mail, and the Guardian; but that I removed them because so few readers made use of their facilities.

It took me some time; but I finally realised that Canvey Beat readers were not interested in national news. They seek out this site to supplement their knowledge of local matters.

It is to that end that I have now introduced a ‘Local Newsreel’ widget in this site’s first right-hand column, above the Echo feed. Powered by Google, it draws upon that search engine’s news database to provide customised local coverage according to the topic chosen in its header. For instance, clicking upon ‘Rebecca Harris MP’ will return the top news articles recently written about her – and, clicking upon ‘Canvey Island’ will bring up the latest news regarding our local football team. Just click on the headline that attracts you and the article will open in a new browser window.

Confusion Over Concord Beach Fund Raising

THE CONCORD POOL issue seems set to dominate the local press this winter as the Echo prematurely announced, on 13th November, that Canvey Island Town Council (CITC) had saved it from destruction. As usual, the paper gave voice to the Canvey Island Independent Party’s posturing over the issue - hoping to put pressure on Castle Point Borough Council (CPBC) to remove the condition that the Town Council also take over responsibility for the pool’s beach area.

Having placed itself in a dubious financial position and faced with the need to increase resident contributions, while all other Councils seek to reduce their costs, CITC is currently doing everything it can to save face over its public promises regarding the Concord Pool. But just how it can maintain that particular asset without the right to have a labour force or its materials access it – and be obliged to restore the beach area to a suitable pristine condition afterwards – is anyone’s guess.

Ray Prepares To Take The Fight To Island ‘Independents’

IN A STATEMENT issued today, the local Castle Point Conservative Association announced their pleasure at Ray ‘Mr Canvey’ Howard agreeing to stand for re-election as Borough Councillor for the Canvey Island West Ward in next year’s May Council election. At the same time, the Echo was announcing yet another island fight that Ray had successfully concluded – rescuing Winter Gardens’ pre-school budget from Essex County Council.

Ray will lead a strong team of candidates, committed to winning back Conservative seats from the Independent Party. He will be joined by James Parkin in South Ward; Mark Howard in Winter Gardens; Lydia Parkin in East Ward; and Chas Mumford in North Ward.

At the same time the Conservatives will be battling to gain control of Canvey Island Town Council. Candidates already in place include Bill Sharp in Central Ward; Tony Belford in South Ward; and Pat Haunts in North Ward.

The selection process for remaining seats will continue over the coming weeks.

Party Tricks

HERE IS a little party gem that may prove useful to readers over the coming festive season – particularly if you do not have the funds to stand the next round yourself.

This video is currently doing the rounds on the internet – so beware…

How to get that cork out of the bottle

Less Than 1% Of Voters Visit CPBC Website?

ACCORDING TO COUNCIL OFFICERS, providing information to last Thursday’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, visitors to its information page regarding changes to the borough’s waste collection policies totalled just 155.

The number of Castle Point residents, registered to vote, is 67,284.

It is an interesting comparison that Norman Ladzrie seized upon to support his argument that the Cabinet had not ensured that the majority of residents had been properly consulted over the Borough Council’s new waste policy – but was he right to do so?

As usual, with statistics, there is more to this than meets the eye…

Council Constitution Blamed For Fortnightly Black Bag Collection By Blackwell

CASTLE POINT BOROUGH COUNCIL’s opposition leader, Dave Blackwell, shifted uncomfortably in his high chair as he opened the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s meeting, last Thursday evening, in the Council chamber.

His committee had called-in the Cabinet’s decision to introduce weekly collections of food waste, using specially designed caddies, and confine the borough’s non-recyclable waste to fortnightly collections.

Councillors Norman Ladzrie (Conservative, St James); Martin Tucker (Canvey Island Independent Party, Canvey Island North); and Andy Cole (Conservative, St George’s) had been concerned that the Cabinet’s decision would lead to health problems from not collecting nappy and surgical waste on a weekly basis, which is currently the case.

Are British IQ Levels Declining – Or Is It Education Standards That Have Declined?

THE BRITISH EDUCATION SYSTEM, over the past thirty years, has become a political football, passed between the main opposing parties, and fought over - as hyenas argue over fresh carrion. There is strong evidence to suggest that exams have become easier as the years have progressed, and many UK businesses now find that degree level immigrants have much more to offer than their British counterparts.

Dumbing down educational standards, it can be argued, has resulted in dumber citizens. And dumb citizens are easily controlled; because they are not taught to think for themselves.

Both here, and on my personal Blog, I recently exposed how the current national debate over our own MP’s Private Member’s Bill (regarding the adoption of Single Double Summer Time) has been hijacked by powerful lobbyists and self-centred interest groups by basing their argument for adopting SDST upon ‘manufactured’ statistical evidence from an old 1998, Labour Government commissioned report – whose authors remain anonymous.

Rebecca Under Pressure From Sunday Mail’s British Time Campaign

FEW SITUATIONS can be more daunting than to find yourself suddenly propelled to Parliament, only to find that your name has been selected, by ballot, to research, prepare, and present a Private Members Bill on behalf of the Nation’s voters. Even more daunting when it falls upon you to choose a suitable cause; when you have only limited political experience; when the country finds itself on the brink of financial ruin – and you have just fought a tiring, blood-thirsty, political battle with a morally corrupt sitting MP.

Having just defeated Bob Spink in last May’s General Election – in a contest which few thought she could win, our new MP, Rebecca Harris, chose not to select a soft option; but finally come to grips with an issue that has polarised the British public ever since Railway Time was introduced in 1840. She proposed that the new Coalition Government seriously investigate the pros and cons regarding Britain’s Daylight Saving Time – including the option of dispensing with GMT and adopting Central European Time instead.

An Interesting Poll

REGULAR READERS will remember that the old Canvey Beat, hosted by WordPress, used to frequently provide different straw-polls to assess reader opinion on a number of different local matters; but the poll it conducted regarding reader voter intentions, for last May’s local elections, proved to be hopelessly wrong as far as the island was concerned. The Canvey Island Independent Party, on a low turnout, swept aside all local opposition.

Town Council Prepares For Friday Night’s £10,000 Extravaganza

JUST ONE WEEK AFTER Castle Point Borough Council brightened residents lives with its self-funding fireworks display on Friday, 5th November, Canvey Island Town Council (CITC) is preparing to go head-to-head with its first Citizenship Awards celebrations – funded by £10,000 from precious reserves contributed by island taxpayers.

The costly event will take place at 7.30pm, in The Paddocks, this Friday, on November 12th – and all islanders are invited. It is understood that the current Chairman, CIIP councillor John Anderson, will be there sporting the Town Council’s Chain of Office (for which islanders paid £1,000; but which is so rarely seen by the public).

While Others Cut Their Cloth, Islanders Prepare To Take On Another Financial Burden

DESPITE WASTING OVER 78% of islanders’ annual Town Council precept on overheads, Canvey Island Town Council is attempting to recruit another administrator at its spacious premises in Canvey High Street.

Mrs Elaine De Can replaced Bosmere’s John Burridge in October - after just six months in office. The post being advertised is for the assistant’s position that she originally held.

The Town Council is casting its net as wide as possible in its search for someone capable of putting-up with Dave Blackwell and his Canvey Island Independent Party’s financial incompetence. Unusually, for such a post, there is no requirement upon applicants to have any formal qualifications; or any experience of Local Government.

Blackwell Looking Forward To The Borough’s Asset Auction

THIS WEEK’S LIGHTER MORNINGS have apparently inspired the Canvey Island Independent Party (CIIP) Leader, Dave Blackwell, to launch another dubious verbal attack upon ‘certain’ local Tory councillors - whom he felt unable to name. As readers of this Blog know only too well, Blackwell is only keen to point an unwavering finger at those he wishes to undermine when he can be sure of anonymity.

Innuendo, rumour and convenient political spin is Blackwell’s main stock in trade, so it would have come as no surprise for islanders to read his rantings in Monday’s Echo regarding: ‘A plot by certain Tory borough councillors to wipe out the town council.’