THE amount of vitriol spilled in Gillingham by its Liberal Democrat councillors (past and present) has taken on tsunami proprtions.

As a West Countryman I might have substituted the word bore - a tidal wave that sweeps up some rivers against the natural flow. But it would have been misunderstood.

There is nothing boring about the vehemence and the anger which has been let loose in the row about their former deputy leader and parliamentary candidate, Andy Stamp.

It has hit personal levels such as I have never known in the 20 years I have worked in Gillingham's political arena.

Stamp is a sensitive man with a strong sense of moral right.

He reported his two ward colleagues to the Standards Board after one of them - Cathy Sutton - was forced to leave her home and sought help.

They are still under investigation by the council's standards committee.

Since he resigned from the group and later the party, and stands as an Independent, Cllr Stamp has raised the stakes by going public on his complaints.

The party has now sprung to his defence, accusing him of a poor result in the general election (it was their best result since Bob Sayer stood in 1997).

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The campaign to win city status for Medway has taken to the streets (literally) with the appearance of Arriva's dark blue and white doubledecker.

It has been poiunding the roads between Chatham, Rochester and Strood since it entered service.

What a pity it hasn't been on the 132 route. It serves Gillingham and Rainham, two of the towns which seem to have been overlooked in much of the regeneration benefits.

They also accused him of sulking because he didn't get the group leadership (he didn't, but by then the rank and file were already taking sides).

It is an election year. In 91 days we shall all be waiting to hear who has won what.

I strongly suspect the electorate will respond to the row in a way that will do nothing to benefit the LibDems - just as the electorate appears to want to blame that party for all the woes of the financial mess.

It took me a brisk 20 minute walk to reach Springfield Library for this week's interview.

I was quickly whisked away from the main library and into the office of Adam "Shaggy" Knapp where my questioning could be observed by Adam's supervisor Suzanne.  I've always liked a bit of an audience.

Adam, 23, lives in Medway and is currently working towards an NVQ qualification in Customer Services.  I know only too well how demanding this can be after recently completing a Level 2 Business Adminstration NVQ myself in the summer.  His role at Kent Arts and Libraries is an Apprentice and despite his first impression that he would be a 'Tea Maker', he has found himself taking on multimedia type jobs and various challenging roles in his time with Springfield Library to help him work towards his qualification.

Although Adam works and has a portfolio to complete, he still has time to persue other interest including a second job as a professional video gamer.

"I have recently come back from a gaming event in North Carolina, USA.  I was competing against over 1,000 gamers and I finished 6th overall which I was extremely pleased with."

He said that Kent was great due to the people and the scenery.

"I have to put a word out for all the Kent Arts and Libraries People.  They've been fantastic to me during my time here and I would like to give them a special mention."

I don't know if he was hoping to get extra credit for his NVQ from Supervisor but I admire his attempt.

Adam's favourite eating spot in Kent is Ed's Diner at Bluewater Shopping Centre. 

"It has great food but the best thing they have is the malt shakes." 

I must say I can recommend a peanut butter maltshake, it's pretty awesome. Next time you are up at Bluewater, give it a try.  You will not be disappointed.

I was surprised that Adam could fit anything else in what with his Apprenticeship, his day job and his gaming job, but like most of us, he can manage to find time to kick back and watch some TV and movies.

"I love Scrubs, I basically watch it every day.  If we're looking at movies, I'd say Avatar is worth a watch ."

Adam highly recommends this film, although he has warned against viewers getting carried away with the 3D trend.

"I like 3D but have you noticed it is always described as amazing 3D or mind blowing 3D yet never eye straining 3D."

Fair statement but I think it may be the way of the future for a lot of entertainment based projects.

Now I have come across some great stories whilst writing this blog but Adam's has to be up there with them as one of the funniest.  It has a feel of the TV show 'Skins' to it.

"I used to attend the University of Portsmouth and on my first night out I went on a pub crawl with about 150 - 175 random students.  After a few drinks, we ended up on the sea front, trying to attract ferries by shouting out to them.  It was a bit random but all good fun of course."

"The following morning, I woke up on the beach alone in just my pants!  You cannot imagine the looks I was given as I was trying to navigate my way back to my halls of residence. As I was heading back to my room, an older man passed me and just smirked as I hastily passed him."

"When I had my induction a few days later, I was shocked to find that the man was infact my tutor!"

Despite his sincerity, I could not keep a straight face.

I think this has to be told to many people and using my blog to do so is a great way to start.  Great story Adam!  (Suzanne, his supervisor, couldn't resist a chuckle either).

Moving on to save him any further embarrassment, I asked him how he would make Kent a better place.

"I think there needs to be more opportunities for teenagers aged between 14-18.  I think they are overlooked and should be given better funding so they can participate in social activities."

"I think more guidance and support is crucial.  I used to attend a youth club which was great but unfortunately due to lack of funding it is no longer running.  Injecting money into things like that would be great for youngsters and I would encourage anything along the same lines."

I could see Adam was explaining that this age group is stereotyped and subjected to being 'anti social'. His idea to dedicate more time to them is a great suggestion.

Adam was itching to get off to his halloween party so I didn't want to keep him any longer. He was going with a friend dressed as Jedi Knights and I could feel the 'Force' pushing me out the door. (Sorry, lame joke!).

I managed to ask him my random question of the week though.

If you could play any character / role in a movie, who would it be and why?

"It has to be Han Solo from Star Wars just because he is the epitome of cool."

All in all, Adam has a great character and a fantastic humourous side.  It was great chatting with him and I wish him the best of luck with his NVQ.

Happy Halloween to the people of Kent and I'll update you next week on what another member of the public is up too.

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!

The first of a string of councillors investigated by Medway's Standards Committee for actions (real or perceived) gets hauled over the coals next week.

The likelihood is that the councillor (who resigned after being convicted of benefits frauds by claiming cash aid while receiving a councillor's pay) will not turn up.

Nothing has been heard from Dennis Macfarlane since his world collapsed.

Meanwhile, it will be interesting to find out who wins the battle between the Honorable Member for Rochester and Strood and three chief officers of Medway Council.

The Hon Member, Cllr Mark Reckless, has certainly got himself into hot water several times since he first gained public support as a Conservative councillor for Rochester West three years ago.

Apart from his clash with the council's chief officers he got elected to Parliament despite objections to his selection from Central Office.

Within days of election he was earning the displeasure of the whips, then missed the three-line whip to vote on the Finance Bill.

He was reported to the board by the Chief Executive, the Director for Children's Services and the council's Monitoring Officer following a public row in the Council Chamber.

His hearing is among the string waiting to be settled.

Meanwhile, there are whispers that the boot is on the other foot with allegations of bullying being made against senior staff. If that's true it will be interesting to see who investigates - and what the outome is.

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Car clamping on private land is to be banned by the government in the next few months. About time we ended the regime of the high fining, non-answerable clampers.

The problem, however, will not go away for property owners who suddenly discover someone using their land to visit the shop, the pub, or simply to leave their car for a weekend.