Friday night events in Margate - dogs in snorkels and art in the Grotto

You'll probably have heard by now that I decided to stand as an independent candidate in the upcoming District Council byelection for Cliftonville East seat. More info on TDC's website. I'll be launching a new website this weekend, where I'll publish everything to do with the election. It's been a mad couple of days, as is the nature of getting a candidacy together for a byelection at the last minute. And doubly so as an independent. 

I'll leave you this fine Friday evening (looks outside at the weather...well, perhaps not so fine...) with news of two very lovely events going on tonight.

If there's a thing I like, it's dogs. And dogs in hats and snorkels, even better. So tonight's opening of renowned urban artist Teddy Baden's Atopy and the Raindog show at Margate Gallery is set to be a real treat. It starts tonight 6-8pm. More info on their website. There's a do to do with it all on at the Great British Pizza Co. too I think.

And a mere 5 min walk away over at The Shell Grotto is an opening of a 

diverse show in mixed media from Mandy Quy-Verlander, Sue Rumsey, Karen Richards and Elisia Hogben, Fine art students from UCA in Canterbury. And if dogs in snorkels isn't enough, a great show in one of the world's finest, bijou mystery attractions? More info on their website, too.

Karen Richards

Mandy Quy-Verlander

A peacock riding a toboggan

Image courtesy of @retrodan16

Today's Thanet Gazette has a feature on the latest departure of a key player from Margate Town Team. Wanda Rogers was Margate Town Team's Team Leader from September last year and took on the task of getting the flagship High Street multi-trader space of Poportunity up and running. 

Wanda states: 

"I am relieved to be out of the team. The essence of Portas Pilots has been lost. There's no project or action plan going forward. At least I had one for Poportunity. It was supposed to work with other elements of the bid like education, marketing and wi-fi but they haven't happened for one reason or another. "I feel let down for the people in there who are working hard."

Poportunity launched on October 20th as part of Mary Portas' 'Margate Relaunch' event for the Optomen Television produced upcoming series: Mary Queen of Shops. 

As far as we know, none of Margate's Portas Pilot funding has so far been spent on Poportunity. This was later clarified by retail expert, Paul Turner-Mitchell's series of FOI requests to the 27 winning Portas Pilot towns, where Margate was confirmed as having spent only £111.47 out of their £100,000 bid money. 

Richard Ash (centre)

Yet, Margate Town Team's Chairman, Richard Ash is quoted in today's article in the Gazette as saying: 

"I would like to thank Wanda publicly for all she has done in very difficult circumstances. The numbers have to add up. The graph plotting Poportunity's progress has been going downhill like a toboggan since October. The aim of Poportunity was always for start-up businesses to test ideas out but it cannot be treated like a bucket with holes in, with the town team endlessly filling it with money."

What an odd thing for Richard to say. Afterall, Richard has also been Chairman of Margate Town Team since last October, a full six months ago.

Back in November I blogged about an interview Richard had given to BBC Radio Kent, where he was keen to say how much of a success Poportunity was. Listen to the following section from 2:31 in:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/1081363-pt3-bbc-radio-kent-margate-town-team-27-11-2012#t=0m9s
In the same interview, Richard stated the only Portas Pilot funds spent so far was £800 on the annual checks of the High Street Christmas lights. The ones that in the end weren't working for Christmas. This was later clarified by TDC as being a Margate Town Partnership responsibility and the bill was covered by TDC not Margate Town Team. 

Then, in March Richard was quoted in the Sunday Times he was 'proud as a peacock' for the Town Team's progress so far in not spending any money. http://margatearchitecture.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/sunday-times-queen-of-shops-all-pomp.html
 
So there we have it: The endearing image of a peacock, riding a toboggan down a dying High Street with £100k of winnings stashed in the bank at TDC. 

Fancy a job as a community organiser in Margate and Cliftonville?

I've been sent news of three jobs as community organisers by GRASS (Gordon Road Street Scheme). For those of you on Facebook, they have a page.

For further details about Community Organisers and to make an application please contact Betty Ward Email grasscheme@hotmail.co.uk.
Download an application form.

The three roles were funded by Locality. They will work in the Cliftonville and
Margate Central Wards.

GRASS met with Clive Hart last December to tell him of our preliminary approval for two organisers and he voiced his support for the programme. Since then they have been awarded this increased funding for 3 positions.

In addition to creating 3 new jobs, the comprehensive training package provided by Locality, will see our local organisers meeting organisers from many other areas in the country to share good practice and bring some innovative and practical methods back to Thanet. More info about the national scheme: www.cocollaborative.org.uk

The full Job pack is a 13 page document which includes comprehensive details about the philosophical and practical aspects of the Community Organisers programme. The expectation is that all Community Organisers will make use of individual laptops, social media, the internet and
electronic communications whenever possible as they spend time out in the community and use a "hot desk" at the Cliftonville Community Centre and elsewhere.

This is the first group to be funded in Thanet, in this Round 9 of the national programme, along with the North Deal Community Partnership in Deal, and several other areas in the UK.

Anthony Lewis, Supreme Court Reporter Who Brought Law to Life, Dies at 85

The obituary of Anthony Lewis, Supreme Court Reporter makes compelling reading. I urge you to take 5 minutes and cup of tea. Anthony Lewis believed in two things close to my heart: justice and freedom of the press. 

“He brought context to the law,” said Ronald K. L. Collins, a scholar at the University of Washington who compiled a bibliography of Mr. Lewis’s work. “He had an incredible talent in making the law not only intelligible but also in making it compelling.”

Before Mr. Lewis started covering the Supreme Court, press reports on its decisions were apt to be pedestrian recitations by journalists without legal training, rarely examining the court’s reasoning or grappling with the context and consequences of particular rulings. Mr. Lewis’s thorough knowledge of the court’s work changed that. His articles were virtual tutorials about currents in legal thinking, written with ease and sweep and an ability to render complex matters accessible.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/us/anthony-lewis-pulitzer-prize-winning-columnist-dies-at-85.html?_r=0
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/26/anthony-lewis

Write now to protect websites and local blogs

I wouldn't have imagined something would come up so fast that would be so topical for my blog.  But it seems there is an almighty furore over the proposed Leveson Regulations.

I've been publishing here about Margate related news since 2007 when I became interested in saving the corner building at Cliff Terrace, at the gateway to Cliftonville.

As Labour's MP and digital rights campaigner Tom Watson points out:

"“It is clear to all but the very stupid that the new system should only apply to big media -with print operations that might also have a digital presence. Maria Miller should urgently clarify how this will be achieved.”

What can we do? Please join the campaign from the Open Rights Group, which sends a message to David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Harriet Harman.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/mar/22/hacked-off-press-regulation-amendment
http://boingboing.net/2013/03/22/act-now-to-stop-the-uk-leveson.html
Even if, as a lone writer with no other authors writing for my blog, I'm supposedly not going to be currently affected. But I can see how this opens up a potential mess, that will put many people off from publishing at all. This coupled with blogger Jacqui Thompson losing her High Court libel battle against her local authority in Wales.

This brings me then to the issue of why so many good honest local people will not stand for election, despite there being a strong desire for local politics to be seen to be cleaned up and improved. It has been said to me on numerous occasions in the last weeks by local people that their main reason for not standing is not wishing to take on the abuse that they see anyone who puts their head above the parapet having to take. I find this very sad state of affairs. 

I personally decided not to stand for election because I wish to continue to work on the community volunteer projects I'm involved in, because of the obvious conflicts of interest being elected would pose. That and being able to freely work on and cover the issues that I believe in.

The right to report, film and tweet from council meetings in England

Further to the topic of the right of citizen journalists to report directly from court with permission. What about the right to report, film and tweet from council meetings?

In August 2012, Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP announced greater openness and transparency in executive councils meetings. Full announcement here. 

Eric Pickles said:

"Every decision a council takes has a major impact on the lives of local people so it is crucial that whenever it takes a significant decision about local budgets that affect local communities whether it is in a full council meeting or in a unheard of sub-committee it has got to be taken in the full glare of all the press and any of the public. 

Margaret Thatcher was first to pry open the doors of Town Hall transparency. Fifty years on we are modernising those pioneering principles so that every kind of modern journalists can go through those doors - be it from the daily reporter, the hyper-local news website or the armchair activist and concerned citizen blogger - councils can no longer continue to persist with a digital divide."

• New legal rights for citizen reporters: Local authorities are now obliged to provide reasonable facilities for members of the public to report the proceedings as well as accredited newspapers (regulation 4). This will make it easier for new ‘social media’ reporting of council executive meetings thereby opening proceedings up to internet bloggers, tweeting and hyperlocal news forums.

• Holding private meetings: In the past council executives could hold meetings in private without giving public notice. Where a meeting is to be held in private, the executive or committee must provide 28 days notice during which the public may make representations about why the meeting should be held in public. Where the notice requirements for a private meeting and an agreement of the chairman of the relevant overview and scrutiny committee or chairman of the relevant local authority has been obtained, the decision-making body must publish a notice as soon as reasonably practicable explaining why the meeting is urgent and cannot be deferred (regulation 5).

Chris Taggart, of OpenlyLocal.com, which has long championed the need to open council business up to public scrutiny, added:

"In a world where hi-definition video cameras are under £100 and hyperlocal bloggers are doing some of the best council reporting in the country, it is crazy that councils are prohibiting members of the public from videoing, tweeting and live-blogging their meetings."

Here's the Thanet District Council Page on OpenlyLocal

This announcement from Eric Pickles had come well after the advice that was sent out to all local authorities by Bob Neill MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Communities and Local Government in February 2011. Original PDF of the letter here:

Bob Neill MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
Department for Communities and Local
Government
Eland House
Bressenden Place
London SW1E 5DU  

 Tel: 0303 444 3430
Fax: 0303 444 3986   

E-Mail: bob.neill@communities.gsi.gov.uk
www.communities.gov.uk   

23 February 2011  

To All Council Leaders
cc Monitoring Officers   

Dear Colleague,   

Access to Meetings  

As part of the Government’s transparency drive I want to highlight the
importance of your council giving citizens the opportunity to access and
experience their local democracy using modern communication methods. It is essential to a healthy democracy that citizens everywhere are able to feel that their council welcomes them to observe local decision-making and through modern media tools keep others informed as to what their council is doing. 

The mainstream media also needs to be free to provide stronger local
accountability by being able to film and record in meetings without obstruction.  Councils are now faced with important budget decisions affecting the day to day lives of people living and working in their communities. Council meetings have long been open to interested members of the public and recognised journalists, and with the growth of online film, social media and hyper-local online news they should equally be open to ‘Citizen Journalists’ and filming by mainstream media. Bloggers, tweeters, residents with their own websites and users of Facebook and YouTube are increasingly a part of the modern world, blurring the lines between professional journalists and the public. 

There are recent stories about people being ejected from council meetings for blogging, tweeting or filming. This potentially is at odds with the fundamentals of democracy and I want to encourage all councils to take a welcoming approach to those who want to bring local news stories to a wider audience.

The public should rightly expect that elected representatives who have put
themselves up for public office be prepared for their decisions to be as
transparent as possible and welcome a direct line of communication to their electorate. I do hope that you and your colleagues will do your utmost to maximise the transparency and openness of your council.  I do recognise that there are obligations on whoever is filming or publishing information – be it the council itself or a citizen or mainstream journalist – under the Data Protection Act 1998. But I do not see these obligations as preventing access for journalism. Nor are there grounds for any council seeking to obstruct a citizen or other journalist from processing information. 

The Information Commissioner’s Office has told us that:  

‘ In the absence of any other legal barrier to comment, publication,
expression and so on, the Act in and of itself would not prevent such
processing of information.   

In the majority of cases the citizen blogging about how they see the
democratic process working is unlikely to breach the data protection
principles.   

In the context of photographing or filming meetings, whilst genuine
concerns about being filmed should not be dismissed, the nature of the
activity being filmed – elected representatives acting in the public
sphere – should weigh heavily against personal objections’.   

Moreover there are within the Act itself exemptions from the data protection principles which might apply in the circumstances of the citizen journalist. The first exemption relates to processing of information for journalistic purposes (section 32), the second for the processing of information for domestic purposes (section 36).   

In short transparency and openness should be the underlying principle behind everything councils do and in this digital age it is right that we modernise our approach to public access, recognising the contribution to transparency and democratic debate that social media and similar tools can make.   

I copy this letter to your monitoring officer given their responsibility for advising on your council’s procedures and decision-making arrangements.  

BOB NEILL MP

Eric Pickles recently clarified via twitter the right to of the public to report film and tweet council meetings in England: 

Mike Pearce from one old hack to the brave new world of citizen journalists

Despite it being about me, complete with picture in stripey jumper, I'd like to give the old hack, Mike Pearce a high five for his column in today's Thanet Gazette  [Are Louise's tweets the future of court news?] for getting to the crux of the importance of citizen journalism in today's era of media cutbacks within the brave new landscape of social media. A landscape that is further picked up on in Smudger where it's noted how many Twitter refuseniks signed up to the service to follow or comment on the two week Ezekiel trial. I guess most have found that it doesn't bite, but hopefully they will realise the potential to bite before they hit the send button. Citizen journalists have a thing or two to learn from traditional media folk, and one hopes, vice versa.

 The most significant player in the Ezekiel trial may prove not to be the former council leader, nor even the judge, but a woman who runs a Margate B&B.
More of her later. It is what she did that could prove a seminal moment in court reporting.
Two years ago, the Lord Justice ruled that journalists can tweet, text, or e-mail from court, but this does not extend to the public, unless special application is made to the judge.
Which is exactly what Louise Oldfield did - and when Mr Justice Nicol agreed, she made the 86-mile round trip to Maidstone Crown Court from where she tweeted as-it happened updates for nine days.
To understand the significance, one must appreciate what happened to the newspaper industry even before we started turning to the internet for news.
When newspapers were family-owned, towns often had two, three or even more titles, employing teams of reporters which would be considered absurdly large in today's climate.
The coming of free newspapers - in which advertising revenue often loomed larger than social responsibility - pulled the rug from under traditional publishers. Most were mopped up by large corporates or went out of business.
To profit-focused owners, reporters were not revenue earners and were fair game when jobs had to be shed.
Once, a local reporter would be found in most magistrates courts and all crown courts.
There are probably fewer than half the number of journalists there were a generation ago. Today's editors, however willing, are hard-pressed to lose a reporter for a couple of days, let alone the couple of weeks, a major trial might last, a depressing thought if one takes the traditional view that press exposure is part of the punishment for the criminal.
Does the Oldfield application mean we could see an army of tweeters, broadcasting the minutiae of hearings?
Not necessarily.
Louise, who runs The Reading Rooms in Hawley Square - recently named by The Times as its favourite B&B - has shown it is possible, but she is not the Average Joe.
Among other things, she led the fight against the Arlington Tesco plan, chairs an independent traders' group, was an important player in the team that won Portas Pilot money to improve the High Street - and even found time recently to weed the public rose beds in Hawley Square.
But as well as acumen, would-be court tweeters need a working knowledge of the law and court proceedings and be able to assimilate and condense hours of evidence with unerring accuracy.
Louise had to assure the Judge she understood the responsibility to be fair, balanced and honourable.
Her application was groundbreaking. It was the first the court usher had known, the clerk felt it unlikely she would get permission.
After a hand-written note to the judge, followed by a brief discussion between defence and prosecution counsel, Louise was told she could tweet and use her ipad to take notes for her blog.
Did the significance of the Ezekiel trial merit a fortnight of long journeys, lengthy hours in a court room and the ever-present pressure that she must get nothing wrong?
"Open justice is one of the reasons why the UK judicial system is the finest in the world," she tells me."Appearing before the public means those giving testimony are more likely to be truthful. Knowing that testimony will be reported back honourably to the local community is an intrinsic part of this."
Her reports have earned her an admiring band of followers. It has even been suggested she stands for election in Ezekiel's council ward, which would be ironic - but not as important as the role she may have played in shaping the future of court reporting."