26 June - Reformed characters?
Well that was a waste of two days…
As has been said before, this website runs on code I developed many years ago
and it has run reasonably well since the major changes that made it more
compatible with smart phones. That was six years ago.
An even older bit of code allows lists of similarly themed blogs to be generated
automatically with dynamic updating if new blogs on the same subject are
published. On Sunday I triggered the generation of a new list but it was
corrupted with unwanted garbage. I have largely forgotten how the
system works, hence the two lost days tracking down the problem. It wasn’t where
I expected it to be but it is fixed now.
While doing that there were several interruptions from people asking about the election. Basically
have I any information about the candidates? The dearth of leaflets seems to be widespread. I have none,
not even the ones the postman promised a week ago.
I know a little about four candidates but only because they have been Bexley Councillors.
The sitting MP in Erith & Thamesmead
didn’t do anything memorable while a
Councillor and even more so (less so?) in Parliament. She has spent nearly five years
cultivating the black and female vote and I have been unimpressed to put it
mildly. Boundary changes have probably made her electorate even more susceptible to her charms than in 2019.
In Bexleyheath and Crayford another Labour Councillor is making a second attempt
to get into Westminster. If your passion is higher taxes, more restrictions on
freedom, cosying up to Europe and men in the ladies lavs then he would be the
man to vote for. I don’t see him as being worse than any other Labour MP and
likely better than many. (There will be people who write in to say I am wrong about this.)
I should know more about the MP for Old Bexley & Sidcup but I don’t because all the
people I know who live in his constituency say the same thing; he never answers
questions. This may be because the only people I know there are politically
astute and will ask awkward questions. Loyal government supporter seems to be the fairest description. If
you think the Conservatives deserve another chance and are better than the
alternatives, then he is the man to vote for.
The Reform UK candidate in Old Bexley is another former Bexley Councillor, a
Tory one. Not quite as unknown as she might wish to be. If I was a voter
looking for information I’d go to the websites of both Sevenoaks and Bexley councils.
Sevenoaks Council records how she extended her house there without permission.
The retrospective application was refused and an Appeal to the Government
Inspector gave her six months to tear the structure down and remove the debris.
Bexley said she had brought the Council into disrepute over an allegedly shady
property deal but I was not so sure. I suspected a stitch up by her colleagues
who obviously hated her for reasons unknown.
Note: The computer code intro was relevant to the original draft of today’s blog
but an edit has removed the link.