13 March - From Sixth Form to Re-Form
Well I said there would be some interruptions this month and that was the first of them. What has been going on in Bexley?
Not a lot and thankfully no more meetings to report.
I
was amused to see that the Conservative Group has been barrel scraping for
a report that didn’t put Bexley at the bottom
of some league table or other.
They have seized upon Bexley Grammar School being voted among the happiest in the country in
a Times newspaper survey.
I assume it wasn’t achieved by abolishing homework and issuing free sweets so
congratulations to Bexley Grammar’s head teacher Hugh Gilmore and his staff.
How Bexley Conservatives can claim credit is less certain. Bexley Grammar is run by the Penhill Academies Trust.
Reform UK has caused amusement too with their emulation of battle scenes from
Mad Max. I have been both suspicious and admiring of Nigel Farage
and voted for his parties a few times. I can’t quite forget that Richard
Tice was a Covidiot and wanted to unreasonably restrict our freedoms but he has
at least run the proverbial whelk stall in his time which few in Parliament could do.
But maybe they could better vet their key supporters.
As you may remember, one of their candidates demanded £4,800 in compensation for my 2024 election
coverage followed by the more reasonable demand to remove every reference to the
events of 2015 which Bexley Council had agreed to remove from their
website. There didn’t seem to be a lot of point in BiB defending the candidate
against criticism which Bexley Council has wiped from history so I deleted all
my comment on the issue too.
However emboldened by my perceived capitulation, the candidate came back with more
demands. I must remove all my election coverage and all my pre-2015
photographs and entirely complimentary comment or face High Court action.
I asked the Returning Officer if my election coverage was in any way unlawful
and she rather unkindly - but correctly - said that there was no way a small
blog could influence an election, but I removed them anyway. Far too expensive
to argue and as the server logs confirm, no one reads old blogs.
I can’t help thinking that Reform UK candidates must be scared stiff of the
truth ever getting out. I half expect to be the subject of some sort of gagging order next.
Most of my former UKIP friends have gone to Reform UK.
The Free Speech Union is aware and supportive.
