After the global success of Borat in 2006, the notoriety of the follow up Bruno, and not to mention the extravagant public appearances, Sacha Baron Cohen must have wondered how he could continue his career if everyone recognised him and his characters. The solution he has come up with in The Dictator is to depart from the hidden camera hijinks he became famous for and instead go back to a more conventional narrative comedy style. But I wonder whether this was a choice on his part or if he is a victim of his own success.

Luckily the film itself is pretty funny - fans of Baron Cohen will not be disappointed - but the bad news is it does not reach the giddy heights of Borat. In fact, it has more in common with Ali G in Da House than his last two mockumentaries. 

The latest character to be unleashed on audiences is General Aladeen, the beloved oppressor of the fictional North African state of Wadiya. He struts around his oil rich nation as the supreme ruler where all his subjects have to obey his every whim. That is until his jealous uncle (played by Ben Kingsley) stages a coup during a trip to a United Nations summit in New York. Aladeen escapes but robbed of  his trademark beard he is forced to walk the streets as an anonymous foreigner. Liberal American Zoe (Anna Faris) takes pity on him and takes the deposed leader on as an employee at her organic food store. 

The aim of the film is to make the viewer sympathise with someone who is completely detestable and it achieves this through sheer brute force. Aladeen is effectively a spoiled toddler given control of a country. He holds his own Olympic games where he wins every medal by shooting anyone who dares to out run him and he orders scientists to be killed because the missiles they make aren't pointy enough. But once you become acclimatised to his exploits you come to care for him as you would any other flawed protagonist. 

The laughs come steadily and there is a good mix of close to the bone un-PC jokes and gross out humour. It's not a movie for those who are sensitive or easily offended either by middle-eastern politics or the sight of genitals. Baron Cohen's trademark sharp satirical sense is also present, especially in *SPOLIER ALERT* a climactic speech when Aladeen describes the benefits of living in a dictatorship which are all too familiar, such as having all the media controlled by one family. 

Although it works as a straightforward story, it lacks the thrill of seeing interactions with actual people. So rather than linking together a series of improvised scenes with a loose plot as in Borat, you get some fairly functional scenes, performed by actors heading, towards a predictable outcome. 

In the end, although it isn't quite a worthy successor, The Dictator is just funny enough to rule on its own. 

Well, the votes are in and counted. Kent has voted, it seems the turnout is up, and there has been a few changes. Predictably, the Liberal Democrat vote has capitulated in places (most notably Canterbury) and Labour has made gains.

Gravesham is a council Labour are championing this morning with a spectacular win, with Ed Miliband claiming ('the result proves' theory) his party 'are on the come back'. Alas, though; Dartford, Shepway and Medway have seen Labour fail to make any real gains; seats that were on the Labour target list. Conservatives have either maintained control or increased their representation. Thanet has fallen to No Overall Control (NOC), which is disappointing after Harriet Harmen and others visited this week. Labour failed to make, well, easy gains that they were expected to achieve.

Ed Miliband is touring the county and marching through the towns like a victorious Caesar, but it is covering up a modest night for Labour. And that is being kind. The infamous '+1,000 councillors easy' claim has proved to be false. The anti-cut message is not adequate due to Tory gains across the council. Cameron is the true winner in Kent.

More worrying, the Liberal Democrat vote did not move to Labour – it shows signs of the Tories benefiting. Canterbury, for example, has seen the Tories increase their councillors to over 30 with Labour (again) have no genuine presence on the council. Only 3 councillors.

Kent is still blue, and strongly blue, with a few spots of red and yellow.

note: Liberal Democrat leader at Canterbury City Council had this to say on twitter;

@ AlexCanterbury It was like sending your batsmen to the crease only for them to find their bats had been broken by the team captain #libdems

Since 23rd April 1661, the day Charles II became King and Monarchy was restored in England, have republicans felt ever so lonely. This will be quite the forlorn post filled with deep regret and sadness at the Royal Wedding.

I'm quite glad Kent has the lowest registered street parties tomorrow, thus my faith in humanity has been slightly restored, and we haven't gone over the top in plastic patriotism. The Union Flag (it is only called a 'Jack' when flown at sea) is a beautiful symbol and should be raised all the time, not just for the Monarchy.

But alas, Friday will be a depressing day for us republicans.

Tomorrow when the nations erupts into depressing exhilaration over the wedding, I shall ponder what Cromwell would've made of all this pomp and ceremony; as the Royal carriage passes his statue outside Parliament

As an asthma suffer I do have a keen interest in air quality and pollution. But Cllr Martin Vye of the Liberal Democrats, do you honestly think a congestion charge for major Kent towns is a solution to my problems?

People need cars in their daily lives. Fact. There is no viable alternative for them and the lack of investment in this countries infrastructure is not the fault of drivers; inexcusable apathy from countless governments are to blame. Kent has some of the worst roads in the whole United Kingdom and the neglection has gone on for far too long.

A congestion charge is not a solution to the problem. I'm still waiting to see the benefits in London, which has not lead to a psychological change in drivers. In fact, Ken Livingston was unpopular for wanting to expanding the charge to other regions of London. Subsquently went on to lose to Boris Johnson in the Mayoral elections. Manchester rejected the preporsal.

It is unpopular and completely unjustified.

Here's some alternatives:

1. Improved road layouts

2. Better junctions

3. Ending the nightmare of poor town management

4. Funding public transport and investing in sufficient vehicles.

The solution is not another tax for over taxed individuals.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of being a guest on BBC Radio Kent to discuss immigration and its effects on the South East. When discussing our association to Europe and the freedom of movement of people, it seemed many in the county were quite sceptical to the EU.

I was informed, whilst on air, that countless e-mails were flooding in regarding EU membership and it does seem the majority in the county would vote to leave the EU, if given a chance. Due to the debate being about immigration, I was unable to expand further. Why would you, if you're in favour, vote to leave the European Union? Is it just due to immigration or the undemocratic nature of the organisation?

Note: I truly apologies for the lack of blogging lately – I've been rather busy with other projects and medical problems, too. I'm trying to manage everything more coherently, seeing I do have another blog and other freelance work, too.

Preaching about the wrongs of the world can often make a rock star look like a bit of a tool.

Morrissey is viewed as a whining idiot by many, Bob Geldof for all his wonderful charity work comes across as a right moany (insert expletive) and as much as I love his band, U2's Bono has not done himself any favours by jumping on his soapbox over the years.

Yet in some cases it can be noble. When Wyclef Jean ran for the presidency of earthquake ravaged Haiti last year, it came across as a genuine bid to help his homeland in its hour of need.

So make what you will of these comments made to me yesterday by Richard "Fazer" Rawson of Camden hip hop group N-Dubz, pictured left, about the anti-government protestors in Egypt who want the president of 30 years Hosni Mubarak to step down immediately.

"To be honest with you I think the last time I watched TV was a month and a half ago man but I heard something about riots and people getting killed.

"People have got to see we are on the brink of a revolution.

"Look at what David Cameron did with cutting money to universities and the riots that happened in London. Things are about to change.

"People are not going to stand for it man. We are in a different society. Things could get dangerous."

The musings of a philosopher on modern society or the rantings of an out-of-touch pop star who doesn't know any better? For once, I am not making any judgements.

For anyone interested, N-Dubz are playing Margate's Winter Gardens on Monday, April 11 and London's O2 Arena on Saturday, April 30. Tickets on 0844 811 0051.

The full interview with Fazer will be in What's On in April.

****

Talk about striking while the iron is hot! No sooner had the news broke that Jessie J's new single Price Tag had hit No1 on the iTunes chart than she announced she was bringing forward the release date of her debut album Who We Are.

Price Tag was released a little over 48 hours ago but has already raced to the top of the midweek charts. Her debut single Do It Like A Dude is still lodged in the top 10 after peaking at No2, which certainly makes the move understandable.

But the speed and scale is pretty impressive. She is bringing the release date a whole month forward to Monday, February 28. Bringing a release date forward is pretty rare in the music business. The last act to do so were Take That with their latest album Progress but it was only moved a week ahead of schedule.

“Stomp Stomp, I’ve arrived” was Jessie’s battle cry on Do It Like A Dude. Whatever you make of her music, you wouldn't want to bet against the Critics Choice Brit Award and BBC Sound Of 2011 Poll winner sticking around for a long time to come.

“Boris Island”, or the construction of an airport in the Thames Estuary, is the most controversial design in history – apart from Emperor's Palpatine's Death Star. As we can see (from the image I've included) the whole design is deeply flawed and a logistical nightmare. I cannot fathom the words to describe the idea of the terminals located on land and, yet, the runways to be stationed at sea.

I foresee transportation problems, especially when we experience bad weather. And planes might be rather sophisticated machines -ability to operate unaided- but I admire the pilots navigating towards two tiny runaways in the Thames Estuary. In fact, the tiny “ditch” in the Estuary reminds me of the Death Star. Which lead to the inevitable destruction of the space station....His Greatness, the Mayor of London, has perpetuated the environmental benefits towards this devilish scheme – including a potential flood barrier. Yes, that is correct. An airport substituting as a flood barrier. The word “fear” comes to mind....

When this revelation made its début and gleefully graced my presence, I did study the economic argument at great lengths. Kent does require significant upgrades to infrastructures and investment, too. An airport would provide jobs to the economy, including an influx of tourist to sections of Kent. But, after careful meditation on the matter, this airport is a very bad idea – and the majority of Kent agree.

Boris metamorphose into Lex Luthor is quite hilarious, yet alarming too. Both envision bizarre and ludicrous concepts; with a passionate thirst for world domination and terrorising cities in their spare time. Leaving facetious comparisons aside, a message to Boris: politicians don't make good architects

(Below, the "Design". Credit to London Evening Standard)

The Honourable Member for Thanet North, Roger Gale, has given a stark warning that the youngest MPs might depart from a career in politics due to the new expenses system causing "exceptional difficulties.”

Recent reports have given us bizarre insights into new MP's sleeping in their Westminster office, too scared to file a claim for a hotel room. “There are young members in Kent who are having exceptional difficulties and cashflow problems, partly because they’ve had to pay thousands of pounds for their offices and Ipsa is very slow at paying them back.“ said Gale and went on to complain that MPs had to take huge page cuts (from previous careers) to become an elected representative. Charlie Elphicke , newly elected MP for Dover, agrees with the assessment and fundamentally believes the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is too extreme. Almost punishing Members of Parliament. Some readers might even think that is justified.

Of course, the complaints are legitimate and worthy of serious consideration but MP's need to understand the anger felt by voters. The grotesque greed was so widespread that Parliament was becoming a kleptocratic state within its own right. I cannot foresee the IPSA become altered again – it would be highly unpopular and political suicide for the government to consider it. And I cannot see the public having any desire to pay Members of Parliament even more.

Roger Gale might be wise to live with the birth pains and the allow the new foundations to strengthen. Especially in this new age of austerity. Complaining about expenses and your entitlements might not be a voting winning.

THERE's nothing like democracy.

Countries across the world have admired the British way of doing things and where they have a genuine degree of democratic leadership have endeavoured to adopt the British way of running itself.

We all know the problems of government: look at the chaos, the repeated allegations of corrupt practice whoever has been in power, the failure to sort problems to the satisfaction of everyone.

Our council doesn't escape.

We've had fraud and peccadiloes, politicial manouevering and investigations.

There are few parish councils, but where they exist they have their problems.

A few years ago there was one that insisted in meeting in a private house.

There are pocket dictators. I remember attending one parish council meeting in Kent a few years ago where the lady chairman ordered me to stop taking notes and to leave: like a lot of parish councils they have become self-perpetuating oligarchies. I didn't to her intense disgust and her threat to "call the police."

Four years ago there were very few parish elections in Medway. Parish councillors were returned unopposed, or were co-opted from the local community.

The trouble is that sometimes such councillors forget that they are there to serve the community, and that they have to do so under clearly established rules.

I am sure that around the county you will still find farmers who had run the countryside, naturally stepped in to become parish chairmen. Feudalism certainly lives on in Gloucestershire where I learned my trade.... That was the way of parish councils.

The last government introduced new rules that sought to impose democracy on the more recalcitrant parishes.

Tomorrow night, Medway Council's Standards Committee will look at the way one of our parish councils on the Hoo Peninsula represents its public.

There have been at least four complaints lodged with the Standarsd Committee against its councillors by members of the public as a row has blown up over a rundown mobile unit in the middle of nowhere.

It was identified about nine months ago as the ideal place for local youngsters to go. It was done up with the help of a lot of volunteers - including the youths who had been misbehaving in the local streets - and backed by the parish council.

Then someone with lots of money came along and offered to buy the land on which it stood.

There's the crunch. Councils have a duty to realise their assets. They also have a duty to serve the community.

In this particular case the chairman - one of the many people in parishes who are unelected by the electorate - backed the sale. The public is against it because the kids are safe and off the streets.

The chairman favours building something to replace it on the local park.

No one is sure whether there will be enough money to replace the revitalised caravan.

The residents living round the park are not going to favour loads of kids screaming, shouting, laughing and growing up to the heavy beat of modern music that the teenagers currently enjoy.

It now looks as though some of the irate residents will stand in May to force an election.

By then, however, the land could have been sold.

What it shows is that no matter how small your community - or indeed how large - if you don't take an interest in the democratic process you could live to regret it.

Power to the people who vote - or get a chance to vote.