For the Record

This is a response to some strange statements made in the 17th July edition of the Folkestone Herald.

1. I continue to be a member of the Liberal Democrats and have been since 15th August 1987 despite the events of last year. I am a Liberal and have been a card carrying one all my adult life.

2. Claims that I "cannot communicate face to face" don't wash. If I can't communicate face to face why have I been asked today to spend more time (an extra 35 days) in Croatia delivering training, coaching and mentoring to business support service providers and Civil Servants in the Croatian Government by that Government? I think that this, amongst other things, somewhat undermines that claim.

If I have the poor face to face communication skills that I am claimed to have why then did several members of the Bromley and Chislehurst and Orpington Liberal Democrats (including the Bromley Borough Council Liberal Democrat Group Leader) come down to assist the local election campaigning last year (on more than one occasion in some cases)?

In all my years of involvement in the Liberal Democrats around the country I only ever had problems in Shepway in 2007. Even then, I have continued to get on well with several members who supported my Parliamentary Candidacy and others beyond the party who live in Folkestone and the surrounding areas.

If I look back over the years I have been involved in the Liberal Democrats I had a fantastic team around me in 1992 when I stood for Parliament at Birmingham Perry Barr first time around. They were all very supportive of me. I also had good relationships with my fellow members in Warrington Liberal Democrats where I was an activist, local Party officer and Council Candidate.

Later on, after I moved to Durham in the 90's I worked very closely with Carol Woods and others during her Parliamentary campaign in Durham in 2001 and came back from China to help her again in 2005. I got on well with the folks up in Durham.

When I returned from China in 2005 I was welcomed readily by my friends in the Bromley and Chislehurst Liberal Democrats and was very quickly approved as a target seat Council Candidate.

It might also be worth noting that to become an approved candidate you have to get sponsored by 4 party members (well, that was true when I was approved). I didn't find it difficult to find sponsors. In fact, one of the guys up there told me one day "you are going to be an MP one day. You've got what it takes". These kinds of things don't happen to someone who can't communicate face to face.

3. Simon Finlay's Editorial in last week's Folkestone Herald about my "face not fitting with some" in the local party would be nearer the mark than the "disastrously wrong" quotation. If losing 5 councillors in two months isn't things going "disastrously wrong" I don't know what is! I certainly had absolutely nothing to do with that and have been away except for two weeks in April (when even then I was working flat out on material for the Croatian project) since February. As previously stated, I have been back in the UK since 29th June and pretty busy since then.

4. I was not contacted by anyone at the Folkestone Herald before my comments from this blog were published.

5. In the light of the comments attributed to the Councillor concerned and, given the fact that I am a local resident with a business to run here which involves communication training, I am going to investigate what remedies are available to me for some of the unacceptable comments made in the Herald today. This may involve a complaint to the Liberal Democrats nationally and potentially the Standards Board.

My Favourite Place in Croatia

During my time in Croatia (and there is more time still to come) I had to travel around a fair bit which I enjoyed. There are some great people to work with over there and it has been a privilege meeting so many people and the overwhelming majority have been incredibly kind.



I've travelled the length and breadth of Croatia in that time and seen some lovely places through both work and play (Šibenik, Zadar, Senj, Požega, Osijek, Omiš, Mali Lošinj, Trogir, Krk and Cavtat spring to mind as does the centre of Zagreb) but the loveliest place for me so far has got to be Dubrovnik. If you are ever lucky enough to go to Croatia then Dubrovnik for me is a must see.



Thankfully much (if not all) of the damage inflicted during the Homeland War on the Old Town has been repaired and once again it is a truly wonderful place.

I only wish that I could say the same for Vukovar. The state of the City really shook me as have several war affected places which still visibly show the scars.


I think that Folkestone could learn some more tricks from Zadar though in terms of regeneration. The City and County Government with help from the National Government (and possibly donors such as the EU) have created some interesting permanent features by the seaside including a Sea Organ and some spectacular astronomical sculpturing called the Monument of the Sun.


I hope that the Triennial sculptures will become a permanent feature of Folkestone but I also hope that some other new ideas will come in that could bring more tourists to the town (although, I am not suggesting, for one moment, that there should be a junket for Folkestone Town Councillors to go to Zadar on our Council Tax!!!).

Here's a picture of one of the main streets in the old town of Dubrovnik courtesy of my colleague from the SMEPED project, Klaus Richter (and yes, the weather really was that good!).






Here is another picture of the Old Town of Dubrovnik courtesy of the Croatian Tourist Board.

The Crying Game

Rumours have reached my ears that someone wasn't paying attention (or couldn't read through their tears). For the record, I returned to the UK from my recent stint working in Croatia on 29th June.

I'm back in town and I really don't like what I am hearing. It seems that the usual suspects have been at it again with the pseudo-Communist tactics whilst I've been away these past few months.

These times remind me of the famous quotation "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing". I do not intend to sit by. I only apologise to my friends that I did not fight injustice even harder in the past.

Cromwell, the Long Parliament and Shepway Liberal Democrats

Oliver Cromwell had an appropriate message for a particular individual in the light of tonight's events.

"You have sat here for too long for any
good you are doing. Depart, I say, and
let us have done with you. In the name
of God, go! "

The breaking news tonight is that there have been two further resignations from the Shepway Liberal Democrat group.

The ridiculous "groupthinking" that has been going on for years has got to come to an end and it is time to face up to the situation the local Party has got into. Enough is enough.

It is time to cut the personal abuse and time to get serious about the state the Party is in before it gets too late. The leadership needs to change and reform is urgent.

Decentralise the local Party by bringing back the branches (it is ridiculously overcentralised which has contributed to this mess), respect pluralism (which has not happened leading to a series of avoidable defections and people leaving the Party) and start running the Party for the benefit of the wider membership, not the narrow interests of a small group.

And finally, for good measure, for God's sake start realising that you win in politics when you build coalitions. Purist sectarianism is never going to get you where you need to be. You are not integrated into the local community in any significant way. None of you are involved with the local business community as far as I can discern and frankly the liberal and Liberal coalition has been so badly fragmented that it is going to take an absolute miracle to put it back together again. There has been a discernable paucity of strategic thinking going on since before the last General Election.

The Shepway Liberal Democrats was founded on the principles of pluralism, democracy and tolerance. Genuine Liberal principles. I should know, I was involved in bringing the Shepway Liberal Democrats into existence when I went to vote in Blackpool in 1988.

For the last couple of years it has increasingly been built on the ideas of "Democratic Centralism", de-facto Stalinist purges (thanks to the moronic behaviour of one or two individuals who have behaved appallingly and disrespectfully to some long-standing members) and "re-running elections when the result doesn't suit".

No wonder people of a Liberal persuasion have voted with their feet. It has become no longer a recognisable vehicle for Liberalism. For God's sake wake up!

My Thoughts on a Thug

If you agree with me then feel free to copy this image and put it on your own blog.

My Deepest Condolences

As the elder brother of a soldier currently serving in Afghanistan my heart goes out to those families who have recently lost loved ones there.

This week I have also known very well the sick feeling that goes into the pit of your stomach when an announcement comes through that someone from the armed forces has been killed in action or injured over there.

I hope that there will lessons learned and fewer soldiers will lose their lives. May the Ministry of Defence work harder and faster to improve the quality of the protective kit out there.

Good luck to the lads and lassies out there who are doing a great job.

I'm Still Very Much Alive!

Several months after my last blogpost I'm delighted to say that I'm still very much alive and kicking and still working away in Croatia for another couple of weeks. Perhaps some people near Folkestone might not be so happy to hear that.....

I have to ask myself the question when I get the news from home "what the hell is going on?". No, I'm not talking about the Triennial in the town, which is very welcome and hats off to all involved for such an inspired effort. I have to ask myself "what the hell is happening to the Shepway Lib Dems?". Perhaps I shouldn't really care anymore as a member of the Bromley and Chislehurst Local Party but I have to say that I am getting less and less comfortable keeping silent when things appear to get worse and worse.

How many more lost long standing members? How many more lost Councillors? I also have to say that the PPC selection left more questions open than it answered. Does Neil Matthews sleep with a copy of "Il Principe" under his pillow?

OK, so, Season Prater got a bridgehead onto Sandgate Parish Council and hats off to her. She has really run well with the issue of Sandgate's status.

Geoffrey Boot really should make up his mind about whether he wants a base in Sandgate or to have another go for the Tynwald http://www.geoffreyboot4mhk.org/. I suspect that the result of the local referendum on Sandgate's Parish/Town status has given him his answer.

But these are minor distractions from the core concern. How much longer will the national party continue to ignore the serious issues that face the Shepway Lib Dems before they finally get serious and start to act on some of the concerns that I and several others raised last year? Or are they really confortable with the Party disappearing down the drain?

P.S. I'm not going to publish anonymous comments so the usual hatemongers should have the courage of their convictions and say who they are. You aren't as anonymous as you think you are anyway.