Bigotry is not part of our Creed
On behalf of Folkestone & Hythe Labour Party I apologise unreservedly to the people of this great Constituency for Gordon Brown’s offensive remarks abour Mrs Gillian Duffy.
His off camera remarks were unacceptable and shamed the whole Labour movement. Calling her a “bigoted women” was inexcusable, whether to an aide in the back of a car or in front of the cameras.
Whatever views she may hold on crime, the national debt or immigration I strongly believe they must be addressed with sound arguments not cheap insults.
In my own campaign here in Folkestone and Hythe I encounter many hostile views on the doorstep or whilst out canvassing in the streets. I respect those views even if I disagree with them fundamentally.
I take the view, however, that Democracy will only be strengthened by arguing the issues that concern voters and not by insulting them by calling them bigots or worse.
Immigration is clearly an issue that concerns voters on the doorstep illegal immigrants and bogus asylum seekers in particular. More so every time pictures from the refuge camps in Sangatte near Calais are shown on our TV screens.
Addressing the issues around Sangatte or illegal entry into the country by economic refuges is what we should all be concentrating on, not calling each other names or slagging off hard working foreign workers here lawfully to help our economy prosper.
It is not in my creed to tolerate bigotry of any sort but to face the issues squarely and honestly and then let the electorate decide whether I am right or wrong.
Mrs Duffy and others that share her views have the right to be heard with respect at all times. To do otherwise would make us no better than Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia.
Gordon was wrong today,but he has now realised that and apologised.
Let us all now debate the issues Mrs Duffy raised. By doing so we will then all show her the respect she deserves and prove to everyone that Democracy is the true winner when the voter sets the political agenda not Party Spin doctors.
Donald Worsley 28th April 2010
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Javelins well off Target
With the London Olympics now only two years away one sport that should be top of our gold medal wish list must surely be the Javelin.
The Labour Government and South East Rail having invested billions in a new High Speed Rail Link to Kent and in brand new Javelin trains to get commuters from Folkestone to the Olympic Arena anything short of a Gold Medal will be a PR disaster.
Sadly though the Javelin trains are not all they are hyped up to be and at present not serving Folkestone and the other parts of Kent as well as they should. Fast they may be from Ashford to London St Pancras but from Dover or Folkestone to Ashford they are nothing special, indeed on that leg of the journey up to London they are slower than bog standard commuter trains.
High Speed trains as any engine driver will tell you need a high speed track to get up to maximum speed, something conveniently overlooked when the High Speed service to London was extended from Ashford last year.
Little wonder then that the rail yards outside Ashford Station are becoming parking lots for surplus Javelins. Little wonder commuters still prefer to take the usual commuter train into Charing Cross or Cannon Street.
Folkestone is undoubtedly benefiting from the arrival of the Javelin trains but for them to really hit the mark the high speed track urgently needs to be extended down to Folkestone and beyond.
An Olympic legacy any Secretary of State for Transport will be proud of for generations to come. Otherwise the Olympic dream will soon become just a passing memory and the parking lot at Ashford a javelin’s graveyard. An epitaph to yet another failed political career.
The Javelins need to hit their targets in 2012 .
At present from Folkestone they are just hitting commuters in their
pockets and going a long way about it in the process.
With the London Olympics now only two years away one sport that should be top of our gold medal wish list must surely be the Javelin.
The Labour Government and South East Rail having invested billions in a new High Speed Rail Link to Kent and in brand new Javelin trains to get commuters from Folkestone to the Olympic Arena anything short of a Gold Medal will be a PR disaster.
Sadly though the Javelin trains are not all they are hyped up to be and at present not serving Folkestone and the other parts of Kent as well as they should. Fast they may be from Ashford to London St Pancras but from Dover or Folkestone to Ashford they are nothing special, indeed on that leg of the journey up to London they are slower than bog standard commuter trains.
High Speed trains as any engine driver will tell you need a high speed track to get up to maximum speed, something conveniently overlooked when the High Speed service to London was extended from Ashford last year.
Little wonder then that the rail yards outside Ashford Station are becoming parking lots for surplus Javelins. Little wonder commuters still prefer to take the usual commuter train into Charing Cross or Cannon Street.
Folkestone is undoubtedly benefiting from the arrival of the Javelin trains but for them to really hit the mark the high speed track urgently needs to be extended down to Folkestone and beyond.
An Olympic legacy any Secretary of State for Transport will be proud of for generations to come. Otherwise the Olympic dream will soon become just a passing memory and the parking lot at Ashford a javelin’s graveyard. An epitaph to yet another failed political career.
The Javelins need to hit their targets in 2012 .
At present from Folkestone they are just hitting commuters in their
pockets and going a long way about it in the process.
Monday, 26 April 2010
Tory Education Policy in Tatters
Tories in Chaos over Education in Kent
David Cameron’s Brave New Education Policy was in tatters today.
Shot to pieces from within his own Party by Cllr Carter leader of Kent County Council and boss of the country’s largest Education Authority.
Cameron’s bright idea for the Big Society of parents having the freedom to set up schools in opposition to local authority schools may have been a great sound bite at the time, but under scrutiny from the very people who will have to implement such a policy they soon realised it was a nightmare.
Cllr Carter quickly saw that the simple arithmetic taught in all his County’s Primary schools didn’t add up under Cameron. He realised that setting up private schools in the County would cut his own education budget in a big way and reduce his empire of 600 schools across Kent at a stroke.
Would expose hundreds of local authority schools in the County to closure and threaten thousands of teachers, teaching assistants, cooks and cleaners with redundancy .His education empire would be under siege from day 1 if Cameron’s proposal were ever given oxygen to survive beyond the election campaign.
Carter’s feeble attempts late today to reconcile his earlier comments on Tory education policy with the Party Spokesman Michael Gove confirming for everyone just how fatally he has torpedoed below the waterline Cameron’s new flagship policy . How the call for a Big Society is in reality just Orwellian double speak for once more establishing Little Britain in the shires.
The voters of Folkestone & Hythe may have had very few reasons to thank Cllr Carter since he came to office, but at least his candide remarks today deserve their praise.
He has truly shown us all what the future holds for education in Kent if the Tories were to return to Government on the 7th May. Cuts in our primary schools, cuts in the budgets for the Academies and redundancies across the whole teaching spectrum .
All to fund the next Big Thing.
Parent power for the privileged few and run down schools for everyone else.
David Cameron’s Brave New Education Policy was in tatters today.
Shot to pieces from within his own Party by Cllr Carter leader of Kent County Council and boss of the country’s largest Education Authority.
Cameron’s bright idea for the Big Society of parents having the freedom to set up schools in opposition to local authority schools may have been a great sound bite at the time, but under scrutiny from the very people who will have to implement such a policy they soon realised it was a nightmare.
Cllr Carter quickly saw that the simple arithmetic taught in all his County’s Primary schools didn’t add up under Cameron. He realised that setting up private schools in the County would cut his own education budget in a big way and reduce his empire of 600 schools across Kent at a stroke.
Would expose hundreds of local authority schools in the County to closure and threaten thousands of teachers, teaching assistants, cooks and cleaners with redundancy .His education empire would be under siege from day 1 if Cameron’s proposal were ever given oxygen to survive beyond the election campaign.
Carter’s feeble attempts late today to reconcile his earlier comments on Tory education policy with the Party Spokesman Michael Gove confirming for everyone just how fatally he has torpedoed below the waterline Cameron’s new flagship policy . How the call for a Big Society is in reality just Orwellian double speak for once more establishing Little Britain in the shires.
The voters of Folkestone & Hythe may have had very few reasons to thank Cllr Carter since he came to office, but at least his candide remarks today deserve their praise.
He has truly shown us all what the future holds for education in Kent if the Tories were to return to Government on the 7th May. Cuts in our primary schools, cuts in the budgets for the Academies and redundancies across the whole teaching spectrum .
All to fund the next Big Thing.
Parent power for the privileged few and run down schools for everyone else.
Friday, 23 April 2010
Appeasement in our Time
In last night’s 2nd Leaders’ debate Nick Clegg raised the White Flag over the United Kingdom. His policies now but the country in peril.
His rejection of Trident would have us at the mercy of every Terrorist armed with a nuclear warhead. Iran, North Korea or Al Qaeda could blackmail us with ease. Peace in our time would haunt us once more from the bowls of Munich.
His amnesty for illegal immigrants is a clarion call to bogus asylum seekers and economic migrants to head for Britain from as far a field as Asia and South America. An invitation to storm the Refugee Camps at Sangatte and hop on the first passing lorry heading across the Channel.
His economic obsession with Europe and the Euro furthermore threatens meltdown for our economy and bail outs from the IMF just like Greece and other Eurozone countries. Trade with the USA and the emerging economies of India, Brazil and China would be put in jeopardy if the UK was tied to the Euro.
While the press and media prior to the debate compared him either to a Churchill or a Nazi his true comparision is to a certain former Prime Minister bearing the same initials NC. A man who proudly went before the British people waving his manifesto, or rather worthless piece of paper in his hand hailing “Peace in our Time” one Neville Chamberlain.
Clegg’s battle cry for the 21st Century has the same dark echo.
Appeasement in our Time
The one true flag to raise on the 6th May to protect this country is the Red Flag.
Donald Worsley 23rd April 2010
His rejection of Trident would have us at the mercy of every Terrorist armed with a nuclear warhead. Iran, North Korea or Al Qaeda could blackmail us with ease. Peace in our time would haunt us once more from the bowls of Munich.
His amnesty for illegal immigrants is a clarion call to bogus asylum seekers and economic migrants to head for Britain from as far a field as Asia and South America. An invitation to storm the Refugee Camps at Sangatte and hop on the first passing lorry heading across the Channel.
His economic obsession with Europe and the Euro furthermore threatens meltdown for our economy and bail outs from the IMF just like Greece and other Eurozone countries. Trade with the USA and the emerging economies of India, Brazil and China would be put in jeopardy if the UK was tied to the Euro.
While the press and media prior to the debate compared him either to a Churchill or a Nazi his true comparision is to a certain former Prime Minister bearing the same initials NC. A man who proudly went before the British people waving his manifesto, or rather worthless piece of paper in his hand hailing “Peace in our Time” one Neville Chamberlain.
Clegg’s battle cry for the 21st Century has the same dark echo.
Appeasement in our Time
The one true flag to raise on the 6th May to protect this country is the Red Flag.
Donald Worsley 23rd April 2010
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
On the 7th Day
Today the Tories rolled out the their New leader of the Opposition Ken Clarke in one last attempt before tomorrow’s 2nd Leaders Debate to steal the political initiative.
With David Cameron’s face still the colour of Volcanic Ash from his pathetic performance last week the Tories are now pinning their hopes on the most off message member of their team of recycled advertising grandees.
Sidelining poor George Osborne to the substitutes bench on economic matters Ken Clarke is now raised to the status of an eminence grise worldly wise on all matters and in particular Hung Parliaments and the IMF.
No matter that he is so far out of line on Tory policy over Europe and cuts in Inheritance Tax his desperate scaremongering at today’s Press Conference can be his eternal redemption if only he can take the spotlight off Cameron’s mortified looks for 1 day let alone the next two weeks.
Fortunately for the country his scaremongering tactics won’t work as neither the IMF nor the International money markets fear a Hung Parliament. They saw it all before in 1974. What they fear most is a Tory Government hell bent on strangling the UK’s recovery in its infancy with huge tax giveaways to the idle rich and savage cuts in public investment in job creation and support for industry.
Ken Clarke’ reprise as the acceptable face of a caring Tory politician may give momentary impetus to his Party’s campaign but sadly it is not his face the Country will see on their television screens in tomorrow’s Leaders debate . Whose face they will see is that of a smug dusted down former economic advisor to the Chancellor when the markets last crashed on that infamous Black Wednesday.
A certain David Cameron
Sorry Ken stick to scaring Derby County supporters
The Reds are going to win the playoffs.
Donald Worsley 21st April 2010
With David Cameron’s face still the colour of Volcanic Ash from his pathetic performance last week the Tories are now pinning their hopes on the most off message member of their team of recycled advertising grandees.
Sidelining poor George Osborne to the substitutes bench on economic matters Ken Clarke is now raised to the status of an eminence grise worldly wise on all matters and in particular Hung Parliaments and the IMF.
No matter that he is so far out of line on Tory policy over Europe and cuts in Inheritance Tax his desperate scaremongering at today’s Press Conference can be his eternal redemption if only he can take the spotlight off Cameron’s mortified looks for 1 day let alone the next two weeks.
Fortunately for the country his scaremongering tactics won’t work as neither the IMF nor the International money markets fear a Hung Parliament. They saw it all before in 1974. What they fear most is a Tory Government hell bent on strangling the UK’s recovery in its infancy with huge tax giveaways to the idle rich and savage cuts in public investment in job creation and support for industry.
Ken Clarke’ reprise as the acceptable face of a caring Tory politician may give momentary impetus to his Party’s campaign but sadly it is not his face the Country will see on their television screens in tomorrow’s Leaders debate . Whose face they will see is that of a smug dusted down former economic advisor to the Chancellor when the markets last crashed on that infamous Black Wednesday.
A certain David Cameron
Sorry Ken stick to scaring Derby County supporters
The Reds are going to win the playoffs.
Donald Worsley 21st April 2010
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Sodom and Gomorrah
Not even an Icelandic Volcano or Ian Paisley at the height of his powers could have rained down Ash on David Cameron with such force this past week as the media has.
Exposed for all to see before the world’s cameras his answers to people’s serious questions were just so much vacuous sound bites.
Having spent years before the mirrors preening himself and rehearsing his lines nothing prepared him for the reality of real answers to real questions.
Now with the polls swinging against him he stands before the media in his own back garden mortified that his ambition to breeze into Downing Street is grounded like the very airlines the Tories privatised under Mrs Thatcher.
Too frightened to turn back to the days of a caring Tory Party and too transfixed too the ideology of greed and more greed he takes cover from the pressure of the Nick Clegg beauty parade with a spot of Garden Leave.
Sadly for Cameron and his Party just like the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah centuries before they can run to avoid the Ash and debris falling upon them but come the 6th May their decades of debauchery and lack of moral standards will catch up with them to.
Ian Paisley may you say a pray for Cameron’s demise.
Neither the Ark Royal or The Sun can rescue him now.
Donald Worsley 20th April 2010
Exposed for all to see before the world’s cameras his answers to people’s serious questions were just so much vacuous sound bites.
Having spent years before the mirrors preening himself and rehearsing his lines nothing prepared him for the reality of real answers to real questions.
Now with the polls swinging against him he stands before the media in his own back garden mortified that his ambition to breeze into Downing Street is grounded like the very airlines the Tories privatised under Mrs Thatcher.
Too frightened to turn back to the days of a caring Tory Party and too transfixed too the ideology of greed and more greed he takes cover from the pressure of the Nick Clegg beauty parade with a spot of Garden Leave.
Sadly for Cameron and his Party just like the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah centuries before they can run to avoid the Ash and debris falling upon them but come the 6th May their decades of debauchery and lack of moral standards will catch up with them to.
Ian Paisley may you say a pray for Cameron’s demise.
Neither the Ark Royal or The Sun can rescue him now.
Donald Worsley 20th April 2010
Sunday, 18 April 2010
Call in the Navy
Time to Call in the Navy
Dan Snow did us all proud today with his fleet of Ribs carrying stranded passengers from Calais home to Dover. Individual initiative at it best until sadly stopped in its tracks by over zealous French Police.
It may not yet have taken on the mantle of a 2nd Dunkirk floatilla but The Government’s Emergency Committee COBRA needs to give it its full blessing and launch the Navy alongside Dan’s Ribs to rescue our folks stranded across the globe without further delay.
With no end in sight to our planes being grounded and Ash continuing to pour forth from Iceland’s Volcano, rescuing passengers stranded abroad must now be the Government’s No.1 priority, no matter how much Ministers and officials are otherwise engaged with the Election Campaign.
The Government should therefore immediately call up the Naval Reserve and place every available frigate, minesweeper, fishery protection vessel, tug boat, and RHIBS at the disposal of rescuing our people across the globe from France, to Majorca, from the Caribean to Australia & New Zealand.
Bringing home stranded holiday makers across the Channel from Calais by Ribs is one thing, having them stranded across Europe and beyond for days if not weeks on end penniless and in despair unable to fly home is quite another. Well beyond the capabilities of even P&O ferries or Eurostar to cope with.
And with the Port of Dover bursting at the seams to cope with the recent surge in ferry passengers the case for opening up Folkestone’s Harbour once more to passengers for the continent or as a base for any Naval Rescue becomes more overwhelming by the day. Something I shall be pressing upon Gordon and The Secretary of State for Transport at the first opportunity.
Donald Worsley Sunday 18th April 2010
Dan Snow did us all proud today with his fleet of Ribs carrying stranded passengers from Calais home to Dover. Individual initiative at it best until sadly stopped in its tracks by over zealous French Police.
It may not yet have taken on the mantle of a 2nd Dunkirk floatilla but The Government’s Emergency Committee COBRA needs to give it its full blessing and launch the Navy alongside Dan’s Ribs to rescue our folks stranded across the globe without further delay.
With no end in sight to our planes being grounded and Ash continuing to pour forth from Iceland’s Volcano, rescuing passengers stranded abroad must now be the Government’s No.1 priority, no matter how much Ministers and officials are otherwise engaged with the Election Campaign.
The Government should therefore immediately call up the Naval Reserve and place every available frigate, minesweeper, fishery protection vessel, tug boat, and RHIBS at the disposal of rescuing our people across the globe from France, to Majorca, from the Caribean to Australia & New Zealand.
Bringing home stranded holiday makers across the Channel from Calais by Ribs is one thing, having them stranded across Europe and beyond for days if not weeks on end penniless and in despair unable to fly home is quite another. Well beyond the capabilities of even P&O ferries or Eurostar to cope with.
And with the Port of Dover bursting at the seams to cope with the recent surge in ferry passengers the case for opening up Folkestone’s Harbour once more to passengers for the continent or as a base for any Naval Rescue becomes more overwhelming by the day. Something I shall be pressing upon Gordon and The Secretary of State for Transport at the first opportunity.
Donald Worsley Sunday 18th April 2010
Saturday, 17 April 2010
Folkestone's Icelandic Windfall
Folkestone’s Icelandic Windfall
The plumes of Ash pouring forth from the volcanic explosion in Iceland may just turn out to be the greatest boost to Folkestone’s economy since the Victorians took the Town to their hearts in the 19th Century.
With aircraft grounded around the UK and our airports at a standstill continental travel by rail and ferries is now full to capacity and places on Eurostar and Cross Channel ferries now at a premium.
Time then to seriously rethink the country’s future travel priorities.
Time to cancel plans for a third runway at Heathrow and instead invest in a second Channel Tunnel from Folkestone for both cars and rail.
Time to postpone the £16billion Cross Rail line in London and instead invest in new Cross Channel Rail and ferry links through new Ports and railheads at Folkestone, Dover and Ramsgate.
Time to invest in rail infrastructure to Amsterdam and Cologne rather than a see more airplanes waiting in vain for take off to Holland or Germany.
So long as Met Office Scientists can give us no assurances how long the ash from Iceland will continue to pour forth blue sky thinking needs to begin immediately at the Dept of Transport. Thinking that puts Folkestone and the Channel Ports at the very heart of the country’s immediate and long term travel priorities. Thinking that puts rail and ferry passengers and rail freight to the continent as its 1st priority .
Out of the Ashes arose the Phoenix as the legend goes.
Out of the Ashes from Iceland, Folkestone and Shepway District Council must now seize the opportunity to arise and regenerate itself. Then the £50million lost in Iceland’s banking system by KCC may just pay dividends after all.
If elected as MP for Folkestone & Hythe then to that end I can certainly promise the electorate that whoever is Secretary of State for Transport after the Election he or she will be getting a firm knock on the door from me calling for action , whether the planes are still grounded by then or not. Never again can we allow the country to be cut off from the rest of the world so helplessly when Folkestone and the Channel Ports are crying out for new opportunities to serve the travelling public and industry.
Donald Worsley 16th April 2010
The plumes of Ash pouring forth from the volcanic explosion in Iceland may just turn out to be the greatest boost to Folkestone’s economy since the Victorians took the Town to their hearts in the 19th Century.
With aircraft grounded around the UK and our airports at a standstill continental travel by rail and ferries is now full to capacity and places on Eurostar and Cross Channel ferries now at a premium.
Time then to seriously rethink the country’s future travel priorities.
Time to cancel plans for a third runway at Heathrow and instead invest in a second Channel Tunnel from Folkestone for both cars and rail.
Time to postpone the £16billion Cross Rail line in London and instead invest in new Cross Channel Rail and ferry links through new Ports and railheads at Folkestone, Dover and Ramsgate.
Time to invest in rail infrastructure to Amsterdam and Cologne rather than a see more airplanes waiting in vain for take off to Holland or Germany.
So long as Met Office Scientists can give us no assurances how long the ash from Iceland will continue to pour forth blue sky thinking needs to begin immediately at the Dept of Transport. Thinking that puts Folkestone and the Channel Ports at the very heart of the country’s immediate and long term travel priorities. Thinking that puts rail and ferry passengers and rail freight to the continent as its 1st priority .
Out of the Ashes arose the Phoenix as the legend goes.
Out of the Ashes from Iceland, Folkestone and Shepway District Council must now seize the opportunity to arise and regenerate itself. Then the £50million lost in Iceland’s banking system by KCC may just pay dividends after all.
If elected as MP for Folkestone & Hythe then to that end I can certainly promise the electorate that whoever is Secretary of State for Transport after the Election he or she will be getting a firm knock on the door from me calling for action , whether the planes are still grounded by then or not. Never again can we allow the country to be cut off from the rest of the world so helplessly when Folkestone and the Channel Ports are crying out for new opportunities to serve the travelling public and industry.
Donald Worsley 16th April 2010
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