I'm back again for another fantastic interview.  Where do these people hide in Kent?

This week's special guest on my blog is the wonderfully truthful and exceptionally brave Sian Murphy, 48 from Hoo near Rochester, Medway.

Although the picture is quite clear, Sian would like to reiterate that she is a woman as her name is sometimes confused with Sean.  Don't worry Sian, they will never make that mistake.

Currently, Sian runs her own business, Stormchasers, with her husband Mark.  In conjunction with her work at Stormchasers, Sian works with 2 other professional to make up The Ruby Marketers.

If you are wondering exactly what the company is, I will tell you!  The company specialises in helping local business owners who are computer illiterate or did not have the priviledge of using a laptop when they were younger to market their business online.  The range of services they offer is so vast which can start from setting up a Business Blog for a business to setting up social media profiles and as Sian puts it 'Give them the confidence and know-how to start using it.'

If that wasn't already enough, Stormchaser is branching out in another field of their business.

'Another part of my business is run by my husband Mark and he builds starter websites for businesses as part of Stormchasers at AskStormchasers.'

I was intrigued to find out more and did a bit of 'Googling' and came across an interesting article on the following website:

http://leavingthearmedforces.com/stormchasers/

I found a great quote on this website which described Stormchasers as a business that  'Is about leaping forwards into the storm, and coming back out the other side into a brighter and calmer world.'

I think this is a great acknowledgement of Sian and Mark's hard work.

And for any potential new and bright minds that want to begin their own business, take this advice from Sian.  'My tip for setting up in business is to give it time.  Work out how long it will take you to get it all up and running and get work finished - and then double it!'

'Set goals and then plan how you are going to achieve them and don't give up too soon, but be prepared to bend and sway as things change.  Smile, laugh, share and have 1 full day off each week.'

Wise words and I think, sensible advice for new business minds in the making.  Thanks Sian!

Moving on to Kentish matters, Sian likes the diversity of the landscape in Kent.  'We have rolling countryside, inland waterways, estuary shorelines and seaside all within a 70 mile radius.  To top it all off we also have some fascinating industrial areas with some really unexpected hidden treasures.'

Sian particularly like Hoo Church Cemetery.  Before you feel a shiver go down your spine, listen to the reason.  'A bit odd I know but unlike so many graveyards, Hoo is full of life.  Despite the age of many of the gravestones, there are flowers and shiny windmills, some truly wonderful trees to sit under when it's raining and some well placed benches for when the sun is out.  There are often children playing or just hanging out in their hoodies chatting to each other, whilst other villagers walk their dogs.  It's the happiest graveyard I've ever been to!'

Maybe I could have saved this for Halloween but I think it is great to hear something out the ordinary in an ordinary day in our lives.  Plus, I have never heard someone describe a graveyard in detail without using the words 'depressing' and 'upsetting' before.

As you know, my avid readers, as of 2011 I introduced a new question to my blog in which my interviewees tell me a specific fact or snippet of information about our beloved county.  Sian had a really interesting and historical one this week!

'One day I'm going to walk the Saxon Shore Way.' Sian begins. ' The Shore Way follows the line of historic fortifications that defended the Kent coast at the end of the Roman era.  The Shore Way is 160 miles long and starts from Gravesend and goes right the way around to Hasting, East Sussex.'

'There's lots to see along the way from ports, coastline and stunning countryside and of course that sense of history that walking along an ancient footpath - following along in the footstep of goodness know who always amuses me.'

Further to Sian's comments about the Saxon Shore Way, there are also four Roman fort remains, dating from the 4th Century that line the trail.  The only one I am familiar with is the one in Dover.  Kent is very rich in history but it is always great to learn about new things that different Kent residents know from their own experiences.

One of my favourite parts of the blog is eating spots! 

Sian enjoys eating at two pubs in Kent, namely The Ringlestone Inn and The Pier at Upnor, Rochester.  'I like them because the food is good and so is the atmosphere.  We also like to take a little picnic along the shoreline at Hoo every now and then.' 

You can't beat a Ham and Colman's Mustard sandwich, a bag of kettle crisps and a healthy slice of Chocolate Fudge cake! Delicious.

When not working, Sian enjoys cooking and eating meal with the family with a good bottle of wine, which she finds is her 'favourite pastime.'

This is followed by watching a movie whilst nodding off on the sofa.  A pastime of many in Kent I assume.

But there is more!  'When Mark and I are on our own, we enjoy walking and can often be spotted meandering mindlessly around the haunts of Hoo with nowhere in particular to go.'

'I also make rag rugs from old clothes and cloth, mainly for decorative purposes.'

My blog now enters a more serious tone that I believe needs delicate and careful attention as I am writing it.  Normally, I take great delight in listening to my interviewees explaining a humourous story to me about themselves, whether it be of them waking up semi nude on a beach after an initiation ceremony at University or walking into walls for no apparent reason.

Sian tells me a story that she is currently closing in her life at the moment.  One that has me wanting to stand up and applaud her bravery and courage to be able to tell a volunteer bloggist she has never met a very close and personal chapter of her life which I greatly appreciate and hope you find I have describe in a way that is befitting to you.

'2 years ago Mark and I used to have jobs.  I worked in local Government and Mark was a Project Manager.  We were both unhappy with our jobs and spent years talking about leaving and starting our own business.  I'd already trained as an NLP (forgive me if I'm wrong - Neurolinguistic Programming) practitioner and copywriter but unfortunately we didn't plan properly and then in

2009 found ourselves so stressed and miserable that we just decided to hand in our notice and quit.'

So, on 1st August 2009 there we were with no salaries, but some rather grand business plans.  On 17th August, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  That stopped us in our tracks for a while.'

'It's now 2 years later and whilst I'm still on medication, our business is finally taking off after lots of false starts.  I could write a whole book on false starts but we have learned so much.'

'It sounds odd but whilst it might seem like the worst possible time to get cancer, in fact it was the best and it might even have been a lifesaver.  Had I been diagnosed whilst I was still at work I think I never would have left because of the security around the sick pay.  If I wasn't diagnosed just 2 weeks after we both left our jobs we would have just transferred our hectic lifestyles from jobs to businesses.  It would have been the same except now we wouldn't have been receiving monthly pay cheques!'

'Today we've both learned the lesson that money isn't that important, although of course that is also now our challenge because when you are in business you have to value money to some extent or you don't earn any of the damn stuff!'

'We also say thank you got what we do have instead of moaning about what we don't and we really do have so much.  Today we are working with some fabulous people the universe has sent us the perfect business partners and associates.  Our offices are up at the Innovation Centre and we have the most amazing fun.  It's all the good stuff about being at work in an office such as being around friends and having someone to share your triumphs and challenges, but without all of the grim stuff of having to dance to someone else's tune.'

As upbeat as ever, Sian claims ' We're having a ball!'

Now one of my favourite parts of the blog where my interviewees put the world to rights with their opinions on how to make Kent a better place.

"I would get planners in Medway to either change or introduce a required ratio of concrete to plants and greenery in the large housing development that are springing up around Hoo.  Many of the houses open directly onto the street, there are no gardens to speak of and the roads are so narrow they are like little brick tunnels.'

Sian likes to see 'a bit of green' when she looks out the window and whilst she doesn't live a development house, it still forms part of the landscape.

'Given that these estates have replaced fields, it would seem ecologically important at least to give a cursory nod to keeping some greenery around!'

I totally agree with that point and think that planners and developers should look closely at where they are building and how it will affect the local surrounding for both the locals and the wildlife.

So we come to my random question of the week and this one is a really good one!

If you could become any person in the world for one day, who would you become and why?

'I tried so hard to think of someone who wasn't too obvious but I couldn't, so I plumped for Oprah Winfrey, a bit of a cliche I know.'

'I chose Oprah because I want to know how it feels to be her.  She had a difficult childhood, dealt with racism and has overcome so much to get where she is.  She has such a clear vision about her life, that I want to know how that feels so I can recreate it for myself.

Well, this has been one of my most intense blogs yet, with highs and lows, cheerful quips and serious tones but overall I have enjoyed writing this one very much.  I hope Sian receives the recognition she deserves, not just through this blog but through the business world too.

Sian - my very best wishes for your future and a speedy recovery and I hope your business will continue to bloom!

So that's it for another week folks! (No Looney Tunes pun intended) but check in again soon for my newest interviewee.  Who knows, it could even be you!

If you live in Kent, let's talk!

If you would like to appear on my blog, all I ask is that you live in Kent and that you are willing to talk to me for 10 - 15 minutes about yourself.

If you think you'd like to give it a try, drop me an email on millendauthor@gmail.com and we will see what we can do!

Three cheers for the Treasury select committee!

It’s not often we can applaud politicians but they have got it spot on for censuring the discredited UK Payments Council over its appalling handling of the cheques issue.

This lackey of the banking industry raised real fears among businesses, charities and individuals that this vital payment method was to go within a decade.

It’s no good the council spin doctor saying it was only a consultation exercise. It was not. The council actively wanted to scrap cheques under the cloak of declining use. The real reason is that this cabal of bankers wanted rid of a scheme that was inconvenient and expensive for them, no matter what customers thought.

The only consultation was to be about what would replace the cheque. Abolition was presented as a fait-accompli.

Charities depend on cheques for 80 per cent of their donations. Many businesses still use cheques, and much of the population - not just those of a certain age - believe cheques are a vital way of paying for things.

Of course there are alternative electronic methods - and no one uses cheques at supermarkets any more - but how would the likes of schools, Brownies and sports clubs afford the cost of installing them.

Thankfully, the council backed down under sustained pressure from all quarters, but, true to its spinning traditions, under the pretext of claiming there was no viable alternative. Well surprise surprise! The cheque is a tried a trusted method and as a paper transaction cannot be bettered. It now also needs the return of the guarantee card.

Unfortunately, the handful of so-called independent colleagues on the council failed to put a brake on this disreputable plan - how on earth could they not see the looming furore? -  and stand guilty alongside their banking band of brothers.

They should have spent more energy on speeding up the tortoise-slow cheque payment system rather than raising the blood pressure of millions.

A lot of decent quangoes have been scrapped and the UK Payments Council should go the same way. It should be replaced by a body far more representative of the consumer, not the vested interests of bankers.

The council failed the public and the Government should kill it off - just what the council wanted to do to the still cherished cheque.

Well, 2011 has been a busy one and my blog has suffered. I apologise for not keeping up with it but now I am back and so is my next interviewee.

This is Gabriela Margarita Houlgraves or 'Gabby', 34 from Sittingbourne.  Gabby works as a Customer Support Assistant at Maidstone Library.

Our beloved county is the reason I write this blog.  It is the best!

Gabby loves our county to because it is 'so green!'

"This surprises a lot of the people here when I say it.  You all [Kent residents] think it's very, very urbanised, but I just look at the vast fields and meadows.  Always so close and forests everywhere, and think 'Dude, this is the Shire!"

As you can tell from the last part of that quote, Gabby is a Lord of the Rings fan. Everyone needs to have a hobbit!

As part of my 2011 revamp, I have added a question to all my new interviewees which has been instated to find out if the people of Kent have interesting facts or information to share with me.  I always like to learn new things about Kent!

Gabby has selected to inform us about the history of Dover Castle, commissioned to be built by Henry II in the 12th century.

"The tunnels were first dug for the Napoleonic Wars, and then used as a command centre for Operation Dynamo which was the operation set up for rescuing soldiers from Dunkirk.  This is all well known."

This can be found on the English National Heritage website: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk

What was more intriguing was what Gabby relayed next.

"There was also a lower level call 'Dumpy' which was the command centre during the Cold War and it was going to be opened to the public after the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act made it legal to do so.  But English Heritage went under there and found a lot of subsidence and were not as sturdy as the Napoleonic ones and also left in a hurry when the level got decommissioned, so they're not structurally sound. Lovely chalk!"

"And that is why the public won't be allowed down there!"

Gabby feels it is a shame as she would love to go down there and see them.  I would love to see it as well, it sounds fascinating.

We moved on to one of my favourite subjects: FOOD!

Gabby likes to dine at Maggie's cafe on Week Street.  I agree Maggie, whoever she is, does a blinding fried breakfast!

"The wholemeal baguettes and fillings are wonderful, not to mention the salads, the chilli, the cakes and pastries (all home-made) and the staff are the friendliest in town."

Also, Gab enjoys eating at Kitsu, a Tunbridge Wells based place that has, in her words 'The best sushi and teriyaki beef I've ever had."

Equally, Gabby likes an Indian at the Royal Tandoori in Chatham, traditional chips from a chippy in Lenham and her favourite pub is the Ringlestone nr Harrietsham.

We definitely have something in common here!

I always like to be a little bit nosey and find out what my interviewees get up to in their free time.  It feels like I can relate to them if they have something in common with me (in addition to food of course).

"Reading, reading, reading. I can't get enough of books!" Gabby says. "Guess it's lucky I work in a library!"

"I also love visiting English Heritage sites, you see something new every time.  And spending time with family and friends.  Nothing beats a house full of the people you love, all having fun and laughing, sharing life and food & drink."

I think Gabby is a great person, who lives life to the full.  That's the kind of people we need more of in this county to keep up its awesomeness.

This is always my favourite part of the interview: hearing a short story that sums the interviewee up.  I have heard some whoppers since I have been writing this blog - waking up half naked on a beach, buying items such as a bouncy castle on impulse, walking into walls or buying 'Chillis' when you are supposed to buy 'Jelly'.

"I was born in Puerto Rico (in the Caribbean), and I moved to New Orleans to my master's degree.  I still miss New Orleans, every day I'm not there, though I wouldn't live anywhere else in the world but here, in Kent."

That's what I like to hear!

"My first apartment burnt down, soon thereafter, I met Mark (now my husband- he's English, of course), and moved into a lovely shotgun house in New Orleans (For all who are not familiar, it is a narrow, rectangular building)."

"Mark and I got engaged, and i started getting my paperwork for the visa to come here to live and get married. There was a rumour that someone burned down their house near my house to collect the insurance money. The whole block of houses, including mine, burnt down.  I barely had time to grab my cat and laptop and run out of the house.  When I came back to see what was left, almost everything was burnt, except my visa papers and my winter clothes, and a crocheted Afghan my gran had sent me from Puerto Rico."

I want it noted now that Gabby has done fantastically to bounce back from this ordeal where others probably would have rolled over and given up.

"I took that as a sign from God and the Universe that I needed to go with my heart, to Mark and England.  And I didn't look back."

"Do I miss my family and friends from the other side of the Atlantic?  Oh yes!"

"Would I change anything? Not really. I only wish I'd met Mark before so we could have stated our life together sooner and that I had the power to teleport so I could visit my gran and my friends as often as I liked."

What a great story with both highs and lows but an overall outcome that is justly deserved.

It is always important to evolve and progress over time. That is true in both people, nature and our much loved county.  Gabby has some interesting suggestions on how to achieve this.

"I think we should have a better public transport network and it should be more realistically priced, so that people are seen to be quite foolish to take their cars out.  

I agree as I walk every where and think they should pump more money into transportation.

"If the buses and trains took us to where we wanted to go, frequently and cheaply enough, I swear people would give up cars quicker than you can say 'petrol'.  This is particularly true for people in rural locations, who are often quite isolated if they don't have a car.  But even between town centres, the service provision seems almost random!"

I think Gabby talks absolute sense and is valid in that our services are at times extortionate and something needs to be done to preserve the environment for the future generations.

And now to the finale.  My random question of the week.

You hear the four minute warning, you know it will only take you 10 seconds to get into a safe place, what would you do with the other 3 minutes and 50 seconds?

"That's a hash one!  Wow. I wasn't expecting that."

I like this reaction as it is meant to be surprising and awkward to answer.  It is my unique thing!

"I am close to Mark and Sebastian (my son) so I can make sure they're safe with me but even if not, the same applies.  Get as many people as I can into the safe place, hold them close and send a prayer up for the rest of my loved ones and the world!"

Sounds depressing but a nice answer and a good way to round off this sensational lady's interview.

Thank you Gabby for your time and I wish you all the best for the future. This interview has been a pleasure!

Well that's all folks for this week, check in again soon to see who will be my next victi... interviewee!

So the old magician, Alan Jarrett, did wield his wand, and produce a couple of big rabbits from his hat at last week's budget meeting.

But don't be deceived.

The offer of a Freedom Pass for children to use on local buses may not be as good an offer as some would hope.

The county set have been eagerly lowering their sights to allow their children to discover what life is like without a car.

They've forked out £50 a year to then get unlimited travel on buses before 9am - and then right through the day and the weekend.

Not that there will be that many buses operating after April if KCC are chopping away at the many services it supports as I hear they are.

Medway is throwing £250,000 into a pot to provide "easy and affordable" travel on Medway's buses.

A check with the council this morning revealed that they are not sure how the scheme will operate - or whether there will be charges for the pass or the journeys.

If it is free, if the services are maintained (and that is a big imponderable), then it could help not just the scholars to get about, but also give a greater assurance to the bus operators - which would be a carrot to increased services.

The big problem for many youngsters, however, is that there are virtually no evening buses after 6pm on the peninsula (where the transport portfolio holder, Phil Filmer, is a local councillor). In the more densely populated areas of Medway there are scarcely that many more buses running.

The community needs more public transport: buses that it can rely on, at prices that are reasonable, that are quick and priced at sensible (not hyper-inflated) fares.

It may be a commercial operation, but it is still a public service that needs public support.

Meanwhile, I am delighted to learn the council is going to fund free swimming for kids and codgers once again. Not that I got my toes wet when the previous scheme was operating, but maybe I shall this time around.

***

Spare a thought for the many friends of Bob Wade, whose funeral takes place today.

The union rep was a Green Ambassador of the highest order, and the moves to commemorate him around North Kent with trees, vines and signs highlighting his work have been staggering.

They'll see him off in the way he wanted: all dressed in rugby shirts... and enjoying a last pint on him into the process.

***

Eric Pickles, the local government minister, really should wake up to the real world.

While he is eagerly expecting bloggers, tweeters and video camera crews to attend council meetings and encourage openness, he should visit Allhallows Parish Council.

It formally banned all recordings of discussions except those by its clerk.

Mind, I would have loved to have seen how the cameras would have recorded the screaming, the shouting and the stupidity that peppered the meeting.

There were some performances that would have earned Oscars if they had been on film!

Openness is not the name of the game in that area of the borough.

Roll on their next meeting.

It has become a latter-day farce to match anything that Georges Feydeau wrote. Or more strictly it would be funny if it wasn't so stupid.

I speak of the growing scenes of idiocy which have broken out in Allhallows over the past winter.

Followers of this blog will recall the scenes a week ago when the vice chairman was screaming at angry villagers, the clerk was merrily beating a tattoo with the chairman's gavel, people sat for half an hour in a silent refusal to leave, and the parish councillors were openly criticised by neighbouring councillors who had dropped in to see the farce unfold.

The chairman eventually admitted that the only reason they had sought to close the meeting was that it might cause panic in the village if it was known there were checks being carried out on fire escape and asbestos concerns at the Brimp youth club.

No one was interested when the club chairman - who was a fellow councillor - revealed they had had fire checks carried out by the safety team at Dartford.

This week the club organised with Medway Council's asbestos advisors to check the building - and it got a clean bill of health.

One of the club committee (another councillor) was in the Brimp when the clerk, two councillors and a lady from the very same Kent Fire and Rescue team at Dartford walked in to start their own survey a few hours later.

In the late afternoon the council ordered the club to close until further notice. There were no fire safety issues raised.

Instead they want to check everything before the club can reopen. This appears to involve intrusive checks for asbestos, electricity, fire. …the list is endless.

Watching the scenes over the past few weeks unfold reminded me of scenes in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Teenagers had gone along to the council meeting to hear the adults rationally discuss the future of their club (and incidentally unanimously state that none of the councillors wanted to close the Brimp). They behaved impeccably as some extraordinary behaviour emerged around them.

At the end of the night there seemed to be some degree of agreement: safety checks would be carried out (and were).

Now the councillors are throwing more than £1,000 at repeating the tests. It could have more usefully used that cash to improve Cross Park, replace its noticeboard, even contribute to the youth activities

It is not a Medway Council responsibility, but the local borough councillor, Phil Filmer, is hoping to bring both sides together. He wants to get them to talk to each other. Because as things stand one cannot help feeling that there is a lack of verbal articulation on the parts of the anti-youth club majority of parish councillors - and a large degree of spite - while on the pro-youth club side there is a defiance brought about by constant abuse.

Of course, next financial year the new council (there are elections in the offing) will be able to spend 43 per cent more than they could this year. That's how much their precept (village tax) is going up. So a few hundred pounds thrown at repeating surveys probably won't worry some.

What Allhallows Parish Council has successfully done is singlehandedly contribute a substantial reason why the national inflation figures are slipping out of control.

It's not finished yet! There's at least one more scheduled council meeting before the cabinet meets.

As one of the comedians of the last century, Robertson Hare, would say: "Oh calamity!"

... and the conjurer's top hat

Watch out for Mr Mistoffelees. He will once again hold centre stage on Thursday night when Medway Council debates the toughest the council has ever produced.

Mr Mistoffelees will once again perform surprising illusions, eccentric confusions and plenty of prestidigitation to make T S Eliot smile and the Old Possums splutter.

As the American poet said: "He'll defy examination And deceive you again."

For the past five months the council has been chopping nearly £30 million from its spending plans.

The finance officers insist there's nothing left to produce any goodies.

Want to bet?

There will be some surprises on the night. After all, Mr Mistoffelees has already produced the political equivalent of seven kittens right out of a hat.

At the Cabinet meeting this week the council's six noticeboards - earmarked for closure because they cost £6,000 a year to maintain - were saved. Only six kittens? - Volunteers will be found to keep them stocked with fascinating facts (that's the seventh and most difficult kitten to conjure up in Medway).

The government may have ordered Medway Matters to be cut back to four editions a year - but that doesn't mean that Mr Mistoffelees will listen. He likes a regular read of what the council is about - and he doesn't have much time for Eric Pickles, the former Tory Leader of Bradford City Council.

THERE has been some pretty astute work going on behind the scenes in a bid to cut costs at Medway Council.

This week the spending proposals were finally brought under control with a £23.5 million funding gap being wiped out.

A few dozen staff (rather than thousands as in some councils) have lost their jobs or will lose them in the coming months. Many prices are going up...but not all of them.

One was left at the end of the press conference with the feeling that some of the budget managers had discovered the need for reality rather than for dream schemes.

We are like some of the sailors who set out in frail wooden craft from Chatham in the days of Queen Elizabeth.

They were bound for who knew where.

Some made it back, some didn't. Fewer still came out of it as well off as when they set out.

In discussions with the finance chiefs, however, what is happening this year is like sailing down the Medway. There are relatively smooth waters compared to what is to come.

Medway Council finances are about to cross the bar into unknown territory.

Radical changes are being planned to the way services are provided. We do not know precisely what those changes will be . If the rumours are right, then people may find themselves under new employers - or losing their jobs later in the year.

It is in the future, but there will be at least £8 million less cash for services next year, and the council has to find ways of stretching the pittance the government gives them.

It never made sense that the councillor who consistently topped the polls with the electors should be ousted by her own party's voters,  but Jane Chitty was removed from the Conservatives' May electoral list by a form of proportional representation - the transferable vote.

It was a curious process from the beginning. It also cost Ken and Janice Bamber their positions, and led to Les Wicks being moved from one ward to another.

Well, Cllr Wicks - the education portfolio holder - apparently said up with that I shall not put, and recently resigned.

He's keeping his cards close to his chest but it would appear that we haven't seen the last of the debonair oldstager and former Cliffe/Cliffe Woods parish councillor.

Meanwhile, his departure created a fresh vacancy in Strood North.

Cllr Chitty - another of Council Leader Rodney Chambers' inner coterie - swept aside her opponents in the new round of voting, and last weekend was selected to stand in the ward she has represented for many years. On the way she apparently topped the poll at each stage of the transferable voting.

Meanwhile the Bambers have been waging their own form of warfare.

Janice is another of Cllr Chambers' cabinet, and has been unwell in recent times. I understand she is waiting for surgery so her days as a councillor may really be limited.

Ken, however, has secured a vacancy as one of the three Conservative Strood South candidates on the voting forms in May.

He's one of the tough guys in the administration. He has wielded the whip with considerable aplomb over the past decade and kept the rank and file under control. It's been so effective that whenever councillors are asked if they have been subjected to whipping they stay silent.

If he gets elected, if the Conservatives hold the majority, and if Cllr Chambers is re-elected as Leader (a position which for the first time will be for a four year appointment) it will be fascinating to see what happens thereafter.

With the Liberals in disarray thanks to ex-member Andy Stamp (incidentally a rerun of many issues that led Cllr Ian Burt and the late Doris Weller to resign from the party many years ago), will we see the Labour group make a resounding bid for power?

I am doubtful, yet it is curious that there are so many rifts among those who have regained national power just a few months ago.

***

It promises to be a boisterous, noisy and possibly unpleasant evening of blood letting on the peninsula tonight.

Allhallows parish council is meeting with plans to discuss the future of the youth club - and in particular where it meets - behind closed doors.

Villagers are up in arms about the plan by the completely unelected, self-perpetuating, oligarchical parish councillors who have re-appointed themselves every four years since the early Nineties.

It promises to be a fun evening!

***

A clearer picture of how Medway Council will close the £23.5 million gap in its budget plans will become clearer this week.

Make sure you get the Medway Messenger on Friday for headlines.

The government is talking about increasing the number of organisations that are required to release information to the public which (until now) has been wrapped in red tape.

The Freedom of Information Act has not been popular with many in authority.

Now all we want is for some of the authorities already covered by the existing act to get on and do what they should: like answer within 20 working days, or stop trying to find reasons why they should not release information (and that includes people coming up with enormous bills to block the release of facts that should be in the public arena).

***

Despite some confusion, Allhallows parish council's finance committee is meeting in the village hall next week.

The committee starts at 6pm on Monday.

It is trying to hammer out savings in its draft precept: The meeting was originally scheduled for Christmas week after councillors proposed doubling the charges in a village already levying the highest parish charges in Medway.

The council meeting to confirm the precept is due to take place on Wednesday night.

COUNCIL chiefs are working on two programmes to cut their spending plans at Medway over the next few weeks.

In a letter to councillors, chief executive Neil Davies said this week they were looking for at least £23.5 million.

"...when announcing the grants ministers said that the drop in funding resulted in a 3.6 per cent cut in Medway’s spending power – and that no council will see a drop greater than 8.9 per cent. Our figures show that the reduction in funding to Medway is clearly greater than this," he wrote.

"Earlier this year we had forecast a shortfall of around £19.5million so this news means our budget challenge for next year is even greater than we had expected."

SEASONED viewers of Medway councillors are used to the Tory bruiser, Alan Jarrett, battering opponents with verbal cudgels.

It's what the party faithful expect - and the twinkle-eyed Tory is quick to dish it out, and prepared to laugh when it comes back at him.

This week those under attack from his razor wit and battering ram verbosity were not the usual cannon fodder. They were Conservative ministers.

He accused them of doing exactly the same that he had attacked Labour's ministers for doing. The had hidden bad news as they slashed council budgets.

However, that was the least of their sins in the eye of the Deputy Leader of the Conservative administration. He is endeavouring to serve 260,000 residents and more than 8,000 staff without any of the powers conferred at Bethsaida.

For a Government which had talked about openness, he accused his party's top people of "not having the courage to be up front and say times are hard."

Cllr Jarrett - a one-time constituency chairman - said: "They are hiding it in a totally disingenuous way.

"Next year we have to publish every expenditure over £500. It is part of the oppenness they expect from us."

He said the government was forcing councillors to get rid of their most valuable asset - staff who delivered high quality services and went the extra mile for the community.

David Cameron's local government programme is in disarray. Today it takes away, tomorrow it throws something back in, the next day it says it is reconsidering its previous decision and will let people know sometime in January what they will get - or may be not get....

How anyone can plan a accurate £650 million budget when the chief source of funds can't make up its mind is one thing. To have to plan the whole lot in a matter of days - and yet remain democratic - is beyond me.

The treasury and the chief executive's team will be burning the midnight oil from now until February 24 as they try to pull together a working budget that will continue to provide services.

The trouble is the threat that some of those services will disappear is becoming more and more a possibility in the next few years.

***

Meanwhile if you want to see a council in disarray pop out to Allhallows.

Councillors there have decided they need to spend around £74,000 in the coming year - compared with £35,000 two years ago.

They had planned to give up a few hours after Christmas to try to find a more acceptable spending level. Now the finance committee chairman has decided to put it back to Monday January 10 - which just happens to be the date the previous committee chairman is unable to make. Of course, that is a coincidence... it has nothing to do with representing the minority faction, experience or anything like that.

The trouble is they then have a full council meeting on January 12 at which the members are expected to rule on the budget. It doesn't leave any time for the public (or absent members) to consider and comment constructively on the detail.

Parish councils have a duty to ensure that their agendas and all relevant documents are available to members and the public a minimum of three days before the meeting.

Allhallows parish council does not welcome members of the public questioning its decisions. That was very evident at their last meeting.

I am still trying to get the papers for that meeting, but the clerk "only works five hours a week", I was told. Fine. That doesn't excuse the council from making available (as a matter of course) all relevant documents three days before the meeting that are to be discussed in the public section. It gives them no excuse for ignoring lawful requests.

I have written twice to the council requesting the documentation for that meeting and for the next meetings. To date they have not responded.

Small wonder Medway's monitoring officer has received four separate complaints about the operations of Allhallows council.

Someone muttered "Is this the Vicar of Dibley coming true?"

No. This is for real.