COUNCIL LEADER, John Kent was in ebullient mood on Saturday morning as he joined with dozens of other Labour members to launch their 2012 election campaign.
YT thought we would take the opportunity to discuss the council budget that was voted through on Wednesday.
There was a lot to get through but in this interview we discussed a number of matters such as the living wage and the promise to “look at” a number of Tory amendments.
I thought that was a good interview, with Cllr Kent coming across as knowledgable and sincere.
Also he didn’t try to avoid answering the questions directly like most politicians do.
Are we not going to get any comments about how the comrade looks like an over fed half shaved werewolf and other such grown up comments. I see he’s still shaving the gap in his eyebrows. Can anyone comment on how much money the comrade has taken out of public coffers this year. It’s like he’s made up his own welfare for work scheme, only his is much more beneficial to himself than most other schemes on offer. I wonder if he’ll ever get a real job.
Bit bitchey upthereds!
It’s about the level that seems to relate to some I can only assume are Labour activists or councillors comments on other stories. I don’t see myself as a natural Tory voter but I feel that I have to come out in their backing because the Labour party appears to be made up of a bunch of name calling, personally abusive, bureaucratic economy deniers that moan about the Tories using the press to get their points across. I don’t think the word hypocrite suffices. Lets hope that the Labour party can use a Tory policy of building more council houses to the full and have an planning and allocation system that satisfies local peoples desires and requirements. Wouldn’t that be a thing.
I have to agree that most of our councillors act like their still in the school playground, but I have never considered myself worthy of entering into policitcs.
I least I still have a free vote, unlike in some other countries.
I am not a political animal just a poor old long term Thurrock resident so have no allegiance to any of the major parties,however i do echo in some way upthereds thoughts re the hysterical rants from Labour leaning posters on this site.Indeed it would appear the local Tories are being depicted as a party on a par with the Taliban such is the vitriol,a Tory councillor makes a statement and then the attack dogs are unleashed.
Frankly I have grown tired of the petty yah boo name calling that apears to be endemic within the two main parties,I feel like metaphorically banging their heads together and telling to just get on, listen to your residents and work together to improve the lot of all Thurrock residents,alas I cannot see this happening and therefore the borough will continue to decline as it has done over the last two decades whilst the children squabble in their big playground in New Road.
What welcome comments from PERMAN, but i have to point out that the expert commentary you find here is nothing to do with attacking the conservatives. it is utter frustration about the lack of policy. It seems that the conservatives have read the manual on politics but have not realised that it was upside down. it is not the party that is the problem it is the local conservative politicians who lack the sense to give us a policy position. However, Jmw118 is right politics locally is like a school playground. it is all a bit Tom and Jerry with each party going at the other. unfortunately the conservatives are coming across as the Tom to Labour Jerry in this cartoon and can never seem to get the upper hand. Upthereds i do get your point but i must say the open collar and casual sweater makes for a very relaxed and trusting interview.. the type of politician that should get a few votes in May.
Some interesting points from upthereds and PERMAN but just because a party is critiqued it does not mean it is a group of Labour activities or supporters. the process of democracy is to allow people to voice opinion and make comment. These politicians should be held to account and and we are tying to do our bit to get local views heard. If they don’t like it don’t run in May .
Upthereds is clearly miffed at some of the comments made in other articles but unfortunately the conservatives have no policy or credibility. As PERMAN puts it before the attack dogs come out, i am not a Labour supporter. I support Thurrock!! Clearly there is a reason why people are reacting badly to tory press releases. How many negative stories do we hear over and over again from them. If the Tories are sensible they would note the comments and understand, we want policies that support local people and help build a better community.
By the way PERMAN are local conservatives policies not similar to the Talibans? – Create distrust, confuse the people and issue press releases.
Trisca, that’s a nice bit of spin there. PERMAN and Upthereds are making the point that there are a lot of left leaning posters on here regularly resorting to name calling and personal abuse toward the Tory Cllrs. You can’t deny that they have a good point. By contrast, the neutrals and right leaning posters try for a more balanced view. As they both say, it’s the childishness of it all that is most aggravating.
As for the comparison you make with the Taliban, aside from it being totally wrong, it’s frankly offensive. When it comes to sowing distrust and confusion, Labour are the masters. Campbell and Mandelson spring to mind.
No Trisca the Conservatives policies are not similar to the Talibans and you have completely misunderstood the nature of my comment.As i stated it was to illustrate the futility of this type of name calling politics.Be it Labour or Conservatives who make the attacks it makes no difference.to the overall impression that scoring political points appears to be more important than improving the lot of Thurrock residents.
This is an interesting conversation. The reality is comments on this site have often been of a personal nature, but just recently things have got really vicious and nasty. Just look at people lining up to take a cheap shot at Cllr Coxhall because the photo on the article isn’t the most flattering. Personal attacks are more important than the substance of the issues to some people, clearly…
On the specific point here, I think we can all see that comparing the local Conservatives to the Taliban is disgraceful. Members of the Taliban are known for oppressing women, murder, intimidation and intolerance. It is an absolutely OUTRAGEOUS parallel to draw, given the number of British troops, including from Thurrock, maimed or killed by the Taliban.
Trisca I can assure you I won’t get miffed over comments made on here. The fact of the matter is most people in Thurrock don’t care anymore. The place has already been ruined, mainly because of the last Labour government’s policies. Anyone that is able is planning on getting out, I know I am. I do find it very hypocritical of people to blame the Tories for everything that has gone wrong in Thurrock when it is clearly the fault of the Labour party’s time in central government. People on here are comparing the Tories with the BNP. They make sneering remarks about people’s appearances which is very childish. They clearly are supporters of the Labour party because all they do is sing their praises but don’t have the bottle to admit it. Either that or they are frustrated Tories that don’t like the current mob. I don’t really care because regardless of who is in power, nothing will change. As far as most of the public are concerned they are in it for their own self interests. What does bug me is the total hypocrisy of the Labour party both locally and nationally in denying what they did whilst in government and then blaming the Tories for the failure of policies they actually brought in. Most people would say they are blatant liars and cowards for not being able to admit their failures.
upthereds i have to agree with many of your comments. to be fair is clear that you say shows you are passionate about Thurrock. But also all those that use this forum are as well. I think you are right that politicians from both sides have let us down and many people may vote with their feet. The tories are not the BNP but many of the local conservative politicians are very far right in their views lets be honest. I think it is this reality that creates the BNP comments, these politicians are anti- community, equality, human rights, EU and anything else that seems ‘foreign’ whatever people personal views actually we should be promoting Thurrock and working together for the good of local people.
For the record there are many good conservative politicians past and present for example Cllr Arnold Cllr Ojetola Cllr Davies and some good Labour Cllr Kent Cllr Fish and Cllr Okunado to name a few. There is a lot of hypocrisy on both side and i agree with a lot you say. So when i vote it will be for the party that seems more committed to the things that will make a difference. Labour just seems more in tune with what is needed, they value community spirit and seem to understand what is important.
The conservatives like Cllr Sue Mcpherson, Cllr Ben Maney etc spend so much time tying to take the leadership position that the party is dysfunctional. Cllr Phil Anderson has been the best conservative leader for a while why cant they support him and get move forward? Some good comments and i agree with some of them.