30 April - Councillor Craske not all bad?
I had an email today from a Mr. John H. who said that councillor Craske had helped
him “overcome some serious problems”. Glad to hear that; up until now only his
detractors have seen fit to make contact maybe because the website doesn’t look for
stories that affect only single individuals except perhaps if they are featured in the
local news media too. Naturally Mr. H. went on to rudely accuse me of boasting about
my own superiority and I am absolutely positive he is making it up. I’ve asked
Mr. H. to provide me with the offending page(s) and if he is right or anywhere near
right they will be removed pronto.
Perhaps the first pro-Craske message justifies repeating why this site is here. A year ago
I was in correspondence with Bexley’s Traffic Department and councillor John Davey.
Mr. Davey started off by being helpful but as my research progressed and showed the
council in a bad light and acting not a little dishonestly the correspondence dried up. I
told Mr. Davey that I had in mind a website to highlight the council’s failure if he
continued to dodge the issues and if that course was taken he should expect to be portrayed
negatively whenever possible. He chose not to reply. Councillor Craske had put his signature
to the scheme I and an expert in the field had shown to be ill-judged;
hence those two being regularly featured here. There are no plans to dig for dirt on any other councillor, unless
of course evidence is handed to me on a plate. e.g. councillor Colin Campbell
who seeks to restrict residents’ use of the Freedom of Information Act.
The site is just a pastime to me. I don’t care if no one reads it, though I am
amazed at the number of hits it gets and its Google ranking. I won’t deny that
if it irritates my favourite two councillors and Bexley council as a whole when
they do silly things I’ll regard it as a definite bonus but most of my satisfaction is
derived from taking the photos and tinkering with the computer code. Sad but true.
I shall make unflattering comments whenever the opportunity arises but it is
only possible when Bexley council provides the ammunition; it’s not me who makes up the
stories, most can be found elsewhere too. I collect them together, not invent them,
and I’m prevented from straying too far from the straight and narrow by a friend who
used to “legal” contributions to the BBC’s website. I’m told I sometimes
offend against OFCOM rules but I am not a broadcaster and that in the world of
on-line blogging I am really rather mild.