Post mortem and the afterlife

May's election is done and dusted, the rosettes stored away, the leaflets recycled, and the manifesto promises are just fading memories.

What are we left with for the next four years, here in sunny Herne Bay? Well, we've got eight of the old guard (one re-badged) and five newbies - a decent rate of turnover, by the look of it. Twelve of them are Conservative, one Liberal Democrat. And this is where our problems start.

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Tasteless, tawdry, and slightly fun

A tacky, lowest-common-denominator website has appeared called SexyMP which draws on the wisdom of crowds to rank the stars of the Mother of Parliaments by how many people would like to have sex with them.

Normally, I wouldn't lower the tone of this blog with such drivel, but it has been drawn to my attention that our own night flight turncoat Roger Gale isn't faring too well. Currently (31st May) he's 468th out of 648, two places behind IRA scumbag Martin McGuinness, and trailing the likes of Iain Duncan Smith, John Redwood, Dennis Skinner and Julian Brazier.

Our Chosen Few

Here's what they said about themselves in the papers before the election.

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2011 Election Results

Previously: Roger Matthews (LibDem), Margaret Flaherty (LibDem).

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Previously: the same three.

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Previously: Ron Flaherty (LibDem), Robert Bright (LibDem), Ken Hando (LibDem).

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Previously: Gabrielle Davis (Con), Gillian Reuby (Con), Ann Taylor (Con).

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Previously: Peter Lee (Con), Vince McMahan (Con).
Click for full results across the District.

Runners and riders

Here are the candidates for Herne Bay for the local elections.

"Standards"

Standards for England "We believe in principled local politics. Our mission is to champion and promote high standards of conduct amongst our local politicians".

Roger Matthews did wrong. He accepts he broke the rules. Standards for England agree he broke the rules. Guess what happened next...

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The town's councillors

Tuesday 15th March 6:30pm

Salvation Army Hall, 33 Richmond Street, Herne Bay

Rejoice, dear reader - a special day approaches! Half a dozen or so times a year the chosen few gather together to discuss and vote on things that matter to Herne Bay. On Tuesday, our town councillors will assemble at the Salvation Army Hall, eager to answer your questions. Someone from the Royal Mail will be there to "discuss the concerns" about the experimental system that was inflicted on us before Christmas (and before the snow). The councillors will be deciding where to reinstate the Red Shelter, AKA the Threepenny Bit Shelter; they'll also be neglecting public gardens to save money; considering parish grant applications; discussing No Fishing signs and road re-surfacing; and hearing from the Coastal Towns Manager.

It's an open public meeting.

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Your local crime stats

If you're of a nervous disposition, or prone to fretting, this may not be for you. On the other hand, it may be just the thing to put your mind at rest. The Government has decided that it would be a good thing for us all to know just how much crime is going on in our neighbourhoods. The idea behind this is that once we have some hard facts at our fingertips, rather than hysterical scare-mongering from the media, we will be better able to tell the police what we need and want from them. Hmmm.

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Walk the walk

In about 6 months' time, there will be a flurry of democracy as we all choose our councillors. We might choose the old councillors; we might choose new councillors; we might choose you! Next week, CCC will be explaining how to be a councillor. I'm intrigued.

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Blood from a stone

My favourite "whinger" sheds some light on how she earned the title from a local councillor. It seems to me that her question is pretty straightforward and reasonable, and I'm disappointed (but not that surprised) that Kim's run into the all too familiar wall of silence.

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