The Flinging Of Mud

There are those whose lives are so miserable that they seem to spend nearly all of it flinging mud incessantly at those they don't like or oppose. It's a sad life, and compels others to clean up at least some of the mess, as one does after a naughty little boy.

Thus it is with local Labour councillor, blogger and press officer Tristan Osborne, whom I have mentioned on several previous occasions. It might be said that it is best to simply ignore him, but when silence could be (mis-)interpreted as acceptance or acquiescence, it is better to address the charges and debunk them – at least occasionally, just to show him up for his falsity and 'spinning'.

I for one have better things to do, which is why – although as a concerned citizen who (rather obviously) cares about how local matters in particular are being represented, I feel it is important to do my bit – my 'blog is much more varied and (I hope!) more interesting than just that. Just look at the variety of the last week's posts here as a quick illustration of that: technology, cuisine, TV entertainment and more besides...

However, also this past week or so, we have been able to read what must be considered serious allegations on Tristan's 'blog site, in two posts that level allegations of criminal behaviour by the local Council of which he is an elected (opposition) member.

Here's an extract 'snapshot' from this post on 8 February...

I've grabbed this among some of the page's other items to show it isn't fake – but you can just follow the link for proof anyway, on the assumption it hasn't been taken down in the meantime. Clicking on the image will display a larger version. Note the reference to Medway as "one of the mose (sic) fraudulent authorities."

Moving on to the 14 February, we find this post. This time I have grabbed a larger chunk of the page to show that this is all part and parcel of that 'blog. It makes the text smaller but is still readable when the image is clicked on to enlarge...

This time he accuses Medway of being "one of the most fraudalent (sic) authorities in the UK."

The last time I checked, that accusation is of serious criminal action, and there are laws to protect individuals and organisations from unsubstantiated allegations. Therefore Cllr Osborne is going to have to back up this claim very strongly.

As it is, as an elected member of the said council, he might well be in breach of the Code of Conduct that he would have been required to sign shortly after being elected to the council last May. This really is not the way to do it, and he should have realised that.

I think he's likely to be in hot water over this; and I have today asked that the council's Monitoring Officer and the Portfolio Holder for democracy and governance be notified so that appropriate action can be taken. As for the allegations: they seem to me to be born of desperation as Medway Labour continue to have nothing useful to offer this area, so this sort of thing is all they can do instead.

Mind you, Labour councillors are a funny lot. I have countless tales I could tell to illustrate that very convincingly. It isn't only here in Medway, though, as this story exemplifies (though perhaps not precisely typifies) from elsewhere.

UPDATE: It now turns out that this "fraudulence" is all to do with benefit and similar claims by the public, and not fraudulent activity by the council or any of its staff. How anyone could equate one to other is difficult to understand: it takes a special kind of stupidity.

Furthermore, it takes an extreme form of obsession, bordering on or quite possibly within the deranged zone, to make such wild claims without having even attempted to gain a grasp of the topic. That kind of all-devouring, single-minded and warped behaviour pattern is definitely in need of psychiatric attention, as has been indicated for some time by the entire output of this individual in various places.

Night Garden Dance

This is actually quite delightful, and involves everyone, even the Haahoos and (if you look closely) the rarely-seen Wottingers...

BBC Micro Coming Back Into Classrooms!

Well, sort of. The BBC Micro 2 isn't a hardware-based project but a coding development environment, supporting and encompassingbvarious popular, modern development languages and platforms.

C++, Python, Java all sprang straight into my mind, so I checked: yes, they are either there now or coming. It is all still at the alpha stage, so there's a way to go yet and stuff to be added.

This, like the original BBC Micro, forms part of the BBC's ongoing Computer Literacy Project, which no doubt explains the somewhat familiar logo! (Thinks: was it really over a quarter of a century ago when I wrote that little BBC BASIC program to draw that owl symbol in dots?)

It is good to see actual coding coming back into the classroom. Long gone are the days of robotic (or just virtual) turtles and LOGO prorgramming of their movements and other actions; but the principles remain. Today's programming might be more like scripting, and at a much higher level than we learned to do back in the 'eighties – yet it still feels like programming and is at the right level for (a) learning and (b) practical application in the world of the twenty-teen years.

I wish the BBC Micro 2 project well, and am confident it will turn out to be the right addition to this decade's school curriculum.

(P.S. I see that there are some mixed messages coming out about an actual project, a possible hoax, and a non-hoax, so the above is just an indication of what does appear to be happening, though the exact details await formal confirmation from trusted sources.)

Igglepiggle is Benny Hill

A brilliant spot and appropriate editing of this excerpt from In The Night Garden. You'll enjoy it, especially if you ever watched any of the Benny Hill Show end sequences...



Of course, it's Igglepiggle's own fault. He knows as much as anyone that only Upsy Daisy is allowed to sleep in her bed. Daisy doo!

Do "The Muffin"

One of the many delights of 3rd and Bird is the range of different endings, generally based on one or another character's own dance.

For example, Mr Beakman does the Toucan Twist in one such ending, then there's the Just Like Baby Jordan ending, plus Different Is Good – and then there's Do The Muffin.

Here's the original of that last one, performed by little Muffin herself...



...and here is a video I found of Isla and Heather who I think make quite a good job of it. Their "Aah..aah..ooh!" is particularly noteworthy...



As Sir Derek Jacobi is wont to say: "Look at that: what fun! Isn't that a pip!"

(P.S. They had another go at it on a later occasion. It's not bad, but I think the one here is better.)

Beam In Their Eye

Just to keep this in perspective...

Although Medway Labour's claim that there are almost a dozen applicants for every job vacancy in this borough might (or might not) be correct, even at face value, it has to be said that making a fuss about it is somewhat rich coming from them.

Not only is this not a particularly significant figure (though it's not ideal – five to eight applicants is probably optimum) it also pales into near-insignificance relative to the far higher (often more than 200 applicants for each job) numbers typical of much of Labour's time in national government – and when running the council here too, for that matter.

Indeed, tthis was what I found when I moved here in the late 'nineties and it continued that way for years. I was taught that when I went on a training course to get me back into employment, it was on a training film shown during that time, and it was also in schools' television programmes on careers and employment.

One of those even showed us a company sifting the huge volume of applications they had received, and I learned much from that particular programme, by the way. No doubt these productions are in archives so could be brought back into the open as proof if needed.

Especially bearing mind that the present situation in Britain is still very much suffering the ongoing effects of Labour's poisonous grip on our nation, and that those youngsters who are coming out of the education system they more or less demolished and are largely unemployable (as I and others have shown), this is less than a mote in the present national and local Medway governing bodies' eyes, leaving plenty of white to reflect the image of the huge beam in Labour's own eye.

Liam Byrne's words in Medway Labour's next tweet shows this so very clearly...

"This Government is creating a jobless generation - Byrne"

 No, they created that, and the cat has been out of the bag for a while now, so it's far too late for them to pretend otherwise!

UPDATE: As far as youth unemployment is concerned (and these form a large part of the job applicants numbers), this tweet reminds us of how Labour dealt with what they knew was happening on their watch and caused by their policies...

"Didn't #Labour conceal youth unemployment swell caused by min. wage by bribing non-academics to go to college, EMA?"