Unlike many, politicians have to re-apply for their jobs every four or five years and the decision about whether they should be re-appointed is in the hands of voters.

And voters can be rather unpredictable and prone to switch allegiances, as the recent county council election showed rather dramatically.

So, we should not be surprised that a number of Conservative backbenchers in the county voted last night for the 'rebel' amendment on the Queen's Speech.

There is nothing like a bruising mid-term electoral lashing to concentrate the mind and the Kent MPs who backed the amendment no doubt had given careful consideration to the dramatic UKIP surge in the county council election.

So, this was a convenient way of sending a message to the electorate that they are as sceptical about Europe as any UKIP candidate who might be on the ballot paper in 2015.

Their decision to blow a raspberry at Mr Cameron will prove particularly helpful in election literature to post through doors in a couple of years.

Conservative backbenchers in Kent know that the issue of Europe is not going to go away. Those who knocked on doorsteps during the recent election campaign found that Britain's membership of the EU and immigration were often not far from voters' thoughts.

While UKIP is unlikely to win Parliamentary seats at the next election, that is not the point. It is whether UKIP will cost them votes in sufficient numbers to lose them their seats.

Marginal seats like those in the Medway Towns, north Kent and Thanet have switched between Labour and the Conservatives over recent years and if there is one thing that current MPs fear it is that a split in the vote for the right will allow Labour back in.

Whether UKIP's surge will be durable is, of course, open to question.

But if the results of the recent election showed anything, it is that voters are deeply cynical about commitments made for some time in the future - and particularly cynical about promises to do things after the election.

MPs who backed the rebel EU amendment understood this. It might be considered gesture politics but it is inconceivable that they did not make a calculated decision that it was worth putting a marker down now - even if the election is two years away.

by Alan Watkins

A £2million bid for lottery funding could take Fort Amherst a stage closer to the dream of being a world visitor attraction.

Whether the dream is either justified or a reality is beside the point.

Fort Amherst as we know it today was originally conceived in the 1980s as an historic treasure that could create tourist jobs. It came in the wake of the closure of the dockyard.

Nearly 30 years on, some parts of it have been opened up but much of the complex is still closed to the public. In part, this is because of ongoing military use.

Part is because the funds are not there and another constraint is because the mining beneath the Great Lines has never been properly mapped or explored.

A bid is being drawn together by the charity trust set up to look after the former Army gunpowder store and by the council. It will go some way towards regaining the initiative lost when the Great Lines bid for World Heritage Status was turned down.

In my opinion the combination of the Historic Dockyard, the fort and Brompton Barracks was doomed to fail. UNESCO, the people who decide what is of world importance and what is not, had insisted too many of the existing heritage sites are in the UK and the US.

They want to look to Mali, Mongolia, Patagonia or Panmunjon but no longer the west.

Another factor against the bid was, I believe, the failure of our community to get behind the project. Medway is full of people who eat breakfast in the dark, arrive home in the dark and spend the rest of their time (and their money) in London. Others are sceptics.

“We aren’t going to win because we never win, therefore there’s no point in taking part,” seems to be the philosophy of many who live here during the day.

It reminds me of a former mayor’s question to me more than 20 years ago: “Why on earth did you want to come here?” The simple answer is that I like the Medway Towns, and the Medway people, and one day I might actually get the feeling that I am accepted as a Medway resident rather than an incomer.

The trust is seeking to motivate people to back their bid. They‘re inviting people to have a look on February 17 at where the £2 million will be spent.

Much of it will be continuing the restoration of the fort. More will be on opening up the Middle Lines, which have been lost over the years beneath clay and earth.

I wish them well. I might even turn up myself.

I'm staring in the mirror and triple checking that my foundation isn’t five shades darker than my skin. My bronzer is definitely OK, I don’t have hair extensions and can’t wear too much mascara because it plays havoc with my contact lenses.

Admittedly, the last time I put on fake tan it was a bit of streaky (nothing a second application couldn’t sort out), but generally I think I just about achieve the “sun-kissed” look. That’s when I can be bothered to put it on.

I may be a Medway gal (and a Chatham Girl, at that) but I don’t think I’ve ever gone out looking like Kate Payne does by the end her tongue-in-cheek make-up tutorial, How To Get Ready For A Night Out: Medway Style.

Her 10-minute video on YouTube is proving a hit (more than 15,000 views and rapidly rising) as she slaps on the fake tan and gives an hilarious lesson in how to get dolled up with two different types of foundation, lashings of eyeshadow, mascara, bronzer and blusher, scruffs up her locks for “big hair” but dispenses with the lip gloss, because she doesn’t want to look too over the top.

Being born and bred in Medway, and particularly Chatham, has never been easy. I was a wet-behind-the-ears reporter when news of Chatham Girls hit the headlines, and what we were supposedly like.

My editor decided he wanted to send me down the High Street dressed up as the stereotypical Chatham Girl, in a shiny white tracksuit (complete with go faster stripes down the side), branded trainers, a giant sweatshirt, my hair tied up in a scrunchie, wearing the largest gold hoop earrings I could find and a gold necklace with a clown pendant (they were all the rage at the time).

Thankfully, our expense account wouldn’t stretch to buying it all, and I couldn’t beg or borrow it all in time for our next deadline (I really did try, I promise).

It was all a bit of a laugh, as are Kate’s videos (she also has recorded Advice For Single Ladies and a Facebook Rant).

And underneath all that make-up, it proves Medway Townies really do have a great sense of humour.

Watch the video by clicking here.

by Alan Watkins

It is often mentioned as one of the stumbling blocks to any airport being built in the Thames Estuary, and this week the SS Richard Montgomery will make a reappearance on the political agenda.

A public meeting on the wreck is being held at the St George’s Centre in Chatham Maritime on Thursday (September 27) at 7pm.

It will be chaired by historian and film maker Colin Harvey, and there will be a panel of guests who will take part in a discussion about the vessel.

Among the issues they will consider are the potential disposal of the wreck, who would pay for it and whether the US government should be approached.

We know the consequences of the ship’s thousands of pounds of munitions exploding would be catastrophic, but the meeting might reveal some new information.

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Cuts in funding from government put the council in a very difficult position when it comes to balancing the books.

A report this week lays out one of the hard choices the administration might have to make in the near future.

A rise in council tax of 4% in 2013/14 needs to be given “serious consideration” according to a report for a business committee meeting tomorrow (Tuesday).

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Call off the search party.

Rehman Chishti has proven notoriously hard to get hold of in my time at the paper, but it appears his media operation is being ramped up.

Barry Watts, who used to be the political assistant to the council’s Conservative group, is now working for the Gillingham and Rainham MP.

And since that change my inbox has been bombarded with press releases keeping me fully abreast of what Reh’s getting up to.

I’m half expecting a release about what he’s had for breakfast to come through next.

Every year the news that train fares will be going up leads to an outburst of political bickering amongst the Towns’ politicos.

The mud is slung back and forth, debating what percentage fares would’ve gone up under one party and whose most at fault.

Meanwhile hard-pressed commuters worryingly look at their budgets to see if/how they are going to be able to cope with forking out more money for travel.

Amid the debate about percentages it’s worth remembering many people think fares shouldn’t be going up at all. Why pay more if the service stays the same, they ask.

The truth is, whatever party is in power, fares go up. The percentages may be different but that’s likely to be of little comfort.

Running the railways costs money, and the government wants you to foot more of the bill.

The white paper stipulating this was introduced by the last Labour government in 2007, but the Tories haven’t rushed to reverse it.

When the railways were nationalised, tax payers and commuters split the cost down the middle. One thing our politicians agree on is that fares are too high, so would they contemplate re-nationalisation?

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Bosses at Medway Hospital show no signs of backing down in the row over blue badge charges, which will return to the agenda this week.

Councillors called for them to be scrapped at full council last month, but in a letter the hospital’s deputy chief executive Patrick Johnson said they are satisfied their position is “equitable and reasonable”, pointing out the hospital offers a number of concessions for disabled visitors.

Chief executive Mark Devlin is due to be quizzed by councillors on the health committee tomorrow evening (Tuesday).

The St George’s Centre will reverberate to the sound of political point scoring on Thursday – that’s right, it’s full council time.

Expect much discussion of the decision to charge blue badge holders for parking at the hospital.

A motion has been put forward by Labour’s health spokesman, Teresa Murray, calling on the charges to be scrapped and the £10 administration fee for processing applications to be removed.

On the parking charges there appears to be cross-party support – Conservative councillor Mike O’Brien has said his group can’t support them.

But there might be some dispute about the administration fee. The motion has the chance of being passed in some form though.

Councillors might decide to stop short of that and perhaps call the chief executive of the hospital, Mark Devlin, to face them at a Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting.

This has been filling our post box and we’ve had plenty of calls about it since it broke last month.

Will this week be the week the pressure tells?

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The mixed bag of questions at the meeting include the money spent on Chatham Town Football Club, water works in the Towns, the Secondary School Games and whether the chief executive of the council, Neil Davies, should be removed in a bid to save money.

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The dithering over making a decision on airport capacity in the south east continues, but people on the Hoo Peninsula are already having to deal with planes flying above their heads.

An increasing number of flights from Southend airport have been going over the area since Easyjet started flying to more locations in March.

Residents say they weren’t consulted about it, and Medway Council have also said they received “no formal consultation from Southend Borough Council”.

A decision on changes to transport for children with special needs is close - and we’ve been given a flavour of the thoughts of parents in a report out this week.

The changes include sharing lifts and going to “pick up points” to get to their school.

A decision is due to be made in September.

More than 100 responses have been received from parents as part of the consultation, raising concerns about an extra burden being placed on them and their children being pushed towards independence before they’re ready.

Some of the concerns have arisen out of a misunderstanding of what’s being proposed. Reading the report, it’s easy to see why.

There’s talk of consulting with “stakeholders” and we’re told that Medway is a “pilot for the national SEN and Disabilities Pathfinder programme”.

A bit of plain English wouldn’t go amiss. Too many council reports are littered with jargon and “councilese”.

Councillors will discuss the changes at a meeting of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee tomorrow (Tuesday)

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When it comes to the airport debate, a favoured line of attack from local Labour politicians is to accuse the Tories of being "two-faced".

The latest deployment of this came in reaction to former defence and foreign secretary Sir Malcom Rifkind backing the idea in the Evening Standard.

But hang on, aren't Labour the party that nearly ripped itself to shreds with infighting in the 1980s before deciding that, actually, it wanted to win an election again?

This is the party that can't decide whether it loves or loathes former leader Tony Blair, who won three elections.

Indeed, one Medway Labour member called him a c*** this past week in reaction to news he was being given an advisory role by the party.

Politicians in the same party have different opinions, it's not breaking news.

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The biggest Conservative rebellion of the Parliament so far was over House of Lords reform, and one of our MPs was one of the rebels.

Chatham MP Tracey Crouch was one of 91 who voted against the idea on Tuesday. Rehman Chishti didn’t vote and Mark Reckless voted in favour.

It’s the third high profile rebellion from Miss Crouch – after tuition fees and the EU referendum.

Dear Dave,

For around about the past five years, we’ve been wondering if we’re going to have a massive airport plonked on our Towns.

We’ve had to deal with speculation, smoke signals, winks and nods. This month is supposed to be the month we begin to get somewhere with the start of a consultation into the idea.

But yet again there is speculation that the process could be beset with more delays.

There’s talk the consultation could be pushed back until September and the final decision until after the election in 2015.

We want answers and are tired of waiting.

You may want to build a time machine and fast forward to 2015 so you can get rid of those pesky Liberal Democrats, but the people of Medway aren’t very keen on going through three more years of uncertainty.

You’re going to upset people no matter what you decide to, so don’t dither again, bite the bullet and make a decision.

Yours in frustrated anticipation,

Medway

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QUOTE of the week from MP Mark Reckless: “My interest in airports first came about because, at a time when many boys want to be train drivers, my younger brother had an ambition to be an airport manager.

“Consequently, whenever we went on holiday, my indulgent parents would take us to the airport four or five hours before we needed to be there, and my brother would go around and catalogue the catering outlets and investigate the cleaning rosters.

“I was delighted, a few years later, when he decided that he actually wanted to be a doctor.”

No sooner had news filtered through that Cllr Craig Mackinlay had been chosen as the Conservative candidate for police commissioner, questions began to be asked.

Word spread that the turnout was paltry - I was told that 145 people turned up for the final selection meeting in Hoo.

Cllr Mackinlay said around 300 people had voted over three meetings - one of which was held on the same evening as England v France.

Given that the membership of the Conservative party in Kent probably numbers thousands, eyebrows are being raised. This is Tory country, every single MP here is blue.

I've picked up murmurings of disquiet about the method used to select Cllr Mackinlay. Members had to rank each candidate out of three (with one being best) so the person with "lowest" score won. I’m told the final tallies were: Mackinlay: 495, Jan Berry: 585, Francois Gordon: 628

Labour don't emerge unscathed either.

Amongst the criticism it was amusing to read Labour's press chief Cllr Tristan Osborne claim 300 people had decided on behalf of the residents of Kent - seemingly writing off the chances of his own party's candidate.

Having made clear their opposition to the role and what they see as the "polticising" of the police force, they've still decided to put forward candidates.

Indeed, the country's most high profile candidate is a Labour politician - John Prescott. It's left the party open to charges of hypocrisy - wanting to have their cake and eat it.

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What a difference year makes.

When the Love Medway app was launched, community safety chief Cllr Mike O'Brien said it would "revolutionise the way residents are able to report environmental issues and the way our staff deal with them".

This past week, after it emerged the overwhelming majority of users are council staff (8,029 out of 8,809 uses) a council spokesman said: "The Love Medway app is primarily intended for council community officers on patrol but as it is downloadable to all Android and Blackberry phones we encourage residents to use it as well."