Dr Who Fans

http://youtu.be/Z71r3HwfxPw

More Caravan treats

My latest trip was to Romney Farm Site a nice site on the Romney Marsh, my mistake was to go when the kids were holiday the site was full of campers, some of theses tents are as big as a small bungalow. I lose my temper putting the caravan awning up let alone one of these monsters, one guy next to my pitch took 2 hours to erect his tent and he stopped one night!!

It the kids they do nothing quietly but it’s the screaming and crying which goes through me and 99% of the time they cry and scream because they do not get their own way and when they want mum its”MUM” top of their voices even if they are 100 yards away and if mum hears them she shouts back “get over here I am not shouting”. My granddaughter stayed with us and as soon as that happened we were swamped with Kids who thought they could enter our Caravan when they pleased and if we gave our grand child sweets or ice cream the rest demanded some as well and I mean demanded “Err Mister Granddad I want one of those” they soon got the Clarkee growl.

These campers seem to come in a flock we had a two tents full of teenagers and their parents who would insist on playing cricket and wondered why I chastised when there ball hit our Caravan “sorry its only a tennis ball” I kept quite calm and told them to use their common sense NO I did not threaten to rip their heads off if the ball touched my caravan again.

So I will go to adult only sites during the School holidays and will keep away from camping sites.

Just before we set out we met a Mobile Caravan Service, we got chatting and he had a quick look round our van. He told us that it is illegal for you to have tyres that are more the 5 years old (they have a date on the wall) and the gas rubber pipe has to change at regular intervals by law, if you do not comply your insurance is invalid mine run out the end of the year cost £250. Now are we expected to believe all those old caravans have up to date tyres? What about the Travellers and Pikeys I expect they have their caravans are checked on a regular basis! My experience with the caravan insurance company tells me to renew them. With fuel going through the roof and all these regulation Caravanning is not such a cheap option especially as the caravan sites will pass on the 18% electric and gas increases.

My daughter Susan will be using the caravan beginning of August she and her friend with 4 kids will staying in it, what a shame I can not be there with them!!

Move to a Flat you can afford

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2010742/Leaked-Cabinet-letter-warns-Cameron-40-000-homeless-welfare-cuts.html#ixzz1T0t7lk3n

This appeared in the Mail below is a reply to the article

My neighbour (an Englishman) suffers from a severe speech impediment and cannot find work. He gets £91 a week incapacity benefit out of which he has to pay a £22pw towards his rent because in HIS case Housing Benefit does not cover the £240+ pw rent that he has to pay to the "private landlord" of his one bedroom ex local authority flat. I don't know where everybody is getting these £500 a week figures from but I can assure you that a "single person living either on JSA or IB" has it pretty bad and their benefits payments are in no way tantamount to earning £25,000pa. So all of you out there who think that the unemployed are living the live of Riley you are well and truly misguided and misinformed.

- liz, london, 05/7/2011 18:31

This chap is unable to get a job so why is he in a Flat costing the Council Tax payer £240 a week, he should be moved to cheaper accommodation. Why does he need to live in London I have a flat available end of August at £110 a week and Sittingbourne is only 1 hour from London

Cameron must Go

Poles are sending home £3bn a year...and we pay them £4.5m a week in benefits

Cameron rules out vote on creation of EU superstate after £96 billion bailout

These were two headlines today let’s not forget the Financial crisis in Europe and how the EU have said they will save the EURO no matter what it cost and the UK are helping them.

Yet Cameron refuses to allow the British people the democratic right to decide its future

Cameron must go he serves his own interest and the interest of the EU. Conservatives MP’s must have the courage to get him out.

Caravan trip Swanage July 2011

Caravan Break in Swanage Dorset

July 15^th till 19^th

 Never in the field of human conflict can you go to your caravan hook up and go. This time I bang the electric hook up connections on my VW, had to unbolt and re-site, so an extra ½ hours we are off.

The journey to Swanage was supposed to be 3 ½ hours but traffic delays it became 5 hours.

The Caravan Club site Haycraft was clean and tidy and full, Dorset is a very popular area winter or summer. This site was a member only so there were no idiots.

Corfe Castle and village was very near buy a very pretty place, sadly it rained when we arrived and kept going till the last day but we did manage approx 3 to 4 hours in the afternoon of dry weather. S we visited Poole and found Sandbanks a large beach on the peninsular where there was a big Beach Volley Ball tournament in progress. Never been keen on this but you see some quality matches it was quite exciting.

Sunday PM we spent in Weymouth this was a really interesting resort, the beach area had the normal side fun things but we went round the old docks where there were lots of Café, Pubs etc and a load of entertainment, we spent a good time listening to a band playing 60’s music great offered Val a jive but she refused, she made up for it later. On our last day we had a spin around Swanage and visited the three National Trust Beaches

The Weather was a disappointment but still good weekend and the trip home was in the dry and no traffic problems back in 3 ¾ hours, have to admit the VW Caravelle is a brilliant towing vehicle and comfortable to drive.

Solar a way to make money

I am having Solar Panels fitted

Why?

To save and make money

On my Martial Arts Club I am having 20 Solar Panels fitted at a cost £14000 on my house 14 Panels at cost of £11000

He must be mad he will never get his money back but read on.

The Martial Arts Club uses approx £1800 per year on Electric with the Solar Panels I will get all my electric  free plus I should get approx £1700 for supplying the National Grid so that’s £3500 per year that will take 4 years to get my money back and will be about the same time for my house

So am I mad?

The company I am using is PV Solar UK if you are interested I will ask there rep to give you a call

Martin Clarke

Hacking Boring

This phone hacking business has now passed its sell by date, yes of course it was wrong but do you honestly believe the News of the World were the only ones doing this NO. As for the MP’s grilling the Murdoch’s that’s a joke some of them are the biggest crooks and liars going, News of the World is only 1% of the Murdoch’s empire and they were supposed to know about the day to day running of a Newspaper give me credit. Some good will come out of this Newspapers will not be so powerful in the future, International Financial Moguls will realise they can be held accountable and David Cameron may resign and we get a proper Conservative Leader (some hope)

The Daily Mail had it right when they said:

REAL scandal MPs ignore: As Murdoch grilling turns into farce, bankers get ?14bn bonuses and IMF warns of euro meltdown

How many of the MP’s are in bed with the bankers and EU?

Mandella just another terrorist

NELSON MANDELLA Terrorist responsible for the death of many people Black and White

1960’s South Africa Dictatorship run by a White single Party Elite with Black People living in shanty towns

2011 South Africa Dictatorship run by a Black single party Elite with Black and White people living in shanty town

Ian got it right

Dear Editor

I recently wrote an article with reference to the immigrant workers at Bobbing as expected it was not printed but I have said for the last couple of years that Immigrant workers are costing British workers jobs, newspaper like yourself have been ignoring me as some sort of Right Wing Nut Case but I have been proven right, see the article below

Iain Duncan Smith was RIGHT: Foreign workers took three in four new jobs in Britain in the last year

·  Number of foreign men and women in work soars by 334,000 to over 4million

·  British-born workers finding employment in same period rose by only 77,000

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2014507/Foreign-workers-took-new-jobs-Britain-year.html#ixzz1S4dtnxQQ

I have said that British employers a moral duty to help re train people and employ people from the UK also they should consider the long time consequences. The more British you put on the Dole the higher those who work will have to be taxed and it will not be immigrant workers who will pay as they are on very low wages that is why they are employed and more of them are bringing over dependant who will also drain our benefit system dry. We will get to the point where the Income tax will be insufficient to cover the cost of benefit and then what ever government is in power will have to introduce an employment tax, where every employer will be taxed for employing someone. Do not say this will not happen it was tried in the 1960’s by a Labour government and called the Selective Employment Tax
 

Mr Duncan Smith's comments provoked a furious backlash from British business leaders who said that British youngsters were too lazy, ill-educated and lacking the work ethic to compete for jobs.

To some degree this may be true but do not try and tell me every youngster is like this because it is a lie, I work with young people and have done in my capacity as Judo/Sambo Coach for the last 40 years. Yes I will agree a lot of young people do not have the get up and go they had 20 years ago but that has been because the Liberal Elite of this country have introduced so much Political Correctness into not just our Schools but also our everyday life. Young People have a difficulty deciding what is wrong and what is right because the rules of society invented by the PC brigade do not seem to have any boundaries, they taught that they as an individual become before the group. How many times do you hear the phrase I HAVE RIGHTS very rarely do you hear I HAVE RESPONSILITIES I could go on.

So if this the case why are the employers not getting involved with trying to change attitudes, why not get involved in Local and national Politics and get rid of some of these career Politicians who have no concept of real life or start lobbying MP’s etc You employers have much more power than an Individual like myself your voice will be heard. So stop thinking about just your profit margin start thinking about your fellow country man

Martin Clarke Sittingbourne

Out of the EU and into the World

Have a Look at the Democracy Movement

http://www.democracymovement.org.uk/

Nick Clegg is a Wker. Gordon the man of the people Not Anti Scot

So Nick Clegg says staying the EU is a good thing and we the UK benefit from it?
Yet we put more money into the EU then we take out If  I ran a business like that I would be bankrupt

Door-to-door blitz on benefit cheats: Officials target couples who lie about living apart

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2012408/Officials-target-benefit-cheats-lie-living-apart.html#ixzz1RV88F3ir   ABOUT TIME TO

WELL SAID
Date: 7th July 2011

Release: Immediate

Subject: MP criticises Coalition Government of failure to scrap the Barnett formula
Gordon Henderson has criticised the failure of Coalition Government to take action to scrap the Barnett formula that ensures that Scots receive 20% more money per head of population than the English.
The formula, which was devised by Joel Barnett, the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, as a short-term measure in 1978, and was based on approximate population figures at the time. The formula is used to allocate billions of taxpayers money and gives Scotland around £1600 per head more of public spending than the UK average.
In 2009 a House of Lords committee called for the Barnett formula to be replaced with a fairer funding mechanism for the UK’s regions, based on the current respective populations and economic needs. The committee declared that the formula was no longer fit for purpose.
The issue was raised again last week when Mr Henderson raised the issue at Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions, when he asked Nick Clegg:
“Does my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister understand the resentment felt by many taxpayers in my constituency when they see their taxes being used to help provide a range of free services in Scotland that are not enjoyed by the English? When will the Government take action to bring that unfair subsidy.”
Mr Clegg responded by saying:
“One of the reasons we are transferring a great deal of new fiscal freedom to the Scottish Administration through the Scotland Bill is to ensure not only that the Scottish Government enjoy greater freedom to raise and spend money but that they are held to account for it. That is exactly what we are seeking to achieve in the Scotland Bill.”
The response did not satisfy Mr Henderson, who said:
“It is simply wrong that English taxpayers are being asked to help subsidise for people living in Scotland a range of services not available in England, including free prescriptions, free hospital parking, free accommodation in care homes and free university tuition fees.
“There is widespread agreement that the Barnett formula has to be scrapped and replaced with a fairer system. Indeed, the House of Lords made it clear a couple of years ago that the formula was not fit for purpose.
“Something has to be done before the justifiable resentment felt by many people about the unfair subsidy English taxpayers are expected to contribute towards superior services north of the border, manifests itself in an anti-Scots backlash.”







ENDS

MP Replies

Martin




Thank you for your email. Frankly, although I did not watch the Despatches programme, from what I have read it was sensationalist rubbish. Certainly, in my experience, the programme makers could not have used every local authority area for their story, as they claimed, because we simply do not have the same sort of unscrupulous landlords operating in our area that were highlighted in the programme.



Please let me assure you that I am working very closely with local landlords to try to ensure that the law is changed to better protect both landlords and responsible tenants, indeed, we dedicated a recent Sittingbourne and Sheppey Link 2 Business breakfast forum to local private landlords who were able to discuss with me the problems that they faced.



One of the outcomes of the meeting was that we have facilitated regular meetings between Swale Borough Council housing officers and local private landlords, to ensure that individual housing benefit problems are ironed out as quickly as possible. Perhaps you might like to attend those meetings.



Best regards



Gordon



GORDON HENDERSON MP

Channel 4 is wrong

Open Letter

Dear Gordon Henderson MP

The following article was featured on Channel 4 Jon Snow claimed Dispatches could have made the programme in any local authority area in the UK and he was backed by Shelter in his assessment that private landlords are out of control. Private landlords, it was claimed, know that they won’t be prosecuted and therefore are content to be slum landlords whilst they themselves live in exclusive ‘executive’ homes.

As a local Landlord in Swale I consider this a totally unjustified statement, landlords like me provide accommodation where the local Council cannot, my accommodation are One bedroom flats and Bed sits I like most of the Landlords in the area provide good quality accommodation and abide by the letter of the Law and the government should give landlords more help with bad tenants. Over recent years I have learnt by past mistakes I now only rent to the Over 30’s who are working WHY in the past I have rented to youngsters who nearly every case have abused their Tenancy by having loud parties, have multiple occupancy, loud music and in general wreck the places plus they never paid their rent on time as most all of my tenants are on 6 months rental agreements I can get rid of them after 6 months as trying to evict through the courts is expensive, time consuming plus the courts are to lenient.

In the past I have had Tenants who have begged me to rent them a flat even though they are unemployed, I have agreed but it takes months for Housing Benefit to be processed mainly because the tenant does not give the right information and on countless occasions they spend the benefit before paying the rent This is fraud I hear you say NO? I am told if they intended paying me the rent but got tempted into a pub to spend the benefit it is not Fraud! So I have to go through the process of evicting and trying to collect back rent, this could go on for months before we go to court and they still do not pay and if you win they say they have got no money to pay the fine or rent and they are told to pay a few pounds a week. Recently I had a women in her 30’s who begged for a flat she was unemployed and not very well educated, her mother paid her deposit and for a few months she paid her rent but then it stopped she built up a debt of £1200 when asked for the rent she just replied “I have spent it tough” She was bright enough to know the system the cheapest way to get rid of her was to say if you move out by the end of the week I would for go the £1200 on the day she left she asked for her deposit back. Nearly all asked for their deposit returned no matter what condition the property is. Recently someone I shall call Ashley done a runner owing £800 and stole a mini cooker and he looked like a respectable guy but this time I have the Police and debt collectors chasing him

Gordon we landlords need you to make eviction easier, plus a better way to get back rent paid as for Housing Benefit, this should be what is says on the Tin! Housing Benefit if it is spent on anything else it should be considered fraud and the person charged with a criminal offence

The notion that landlords cut of Electricity, Gas, and Water etc and do some heavy handed eviction is nonsense, we can get heavy fines. Mind you some times you do take a chance and it pays dividends on two occasions we have taken people from the Doss House in and rented them a Bed-sit, these were just guys down on their luck and needed a step up and 10 years later they have full time jobs and renting houses.

So now there is no compromise NO DHSS in my Flats and all new tenants must have two references which are checked, also they have a credit check, they must be in full time work pay at least equivalent of One Months rent as a deposit which by law has to be protected.



TUESDAY, 5 JULY 2011

Are All Landlords Rogue Landlords?

"During the programme we have shown two very different people who are representative of private landlords . . . "





With those words Jon Snow of Channel 4’s Dispatches programme ended yet another damning indictment of the private rented sector last night. In a shocking programme landlords in Manchester and London were shown to be treating both their tenants and the law with utter contempt.



The programme showed that Meridian, a Manchester property company that claims to be a charity, was wilfully housing people in truly awful slum conditions. Landlord Mr Gill from London happily housed people in his garden shed and arranged for illegal immigrants to gain access to the UK.



Jon Snow claimed Dispatches could have made the programme in any local authority area in the UK and he was backed by Shelter in his assessment that private landlords are out of control. Private landlords, it was claimed, know that they won’t be prosecuted and therefore are content to be slum landlords whilst they themselves live in exclusive ‘executive’ homes.



Dispatches also interviewed Housing Minister Grant Shapps who promised to personally look into the allegations made in the programme. And there lies the problem.



Is the Government’s Housing Minister unaware that there are rogue landlords? Would Mr Shapps be surprised to learn that there are rogue tenants? He is the Housing Minister in a country that allows some tenants to be housed in utter squalor at the tax payers’ expense. He is the Housing Minister in a country where some people live in garden sheds. He is also the Housing Minister in a country that allows tenants to cause £13,000 worth of damage to a landlord’s property without any method of redress for the landlord (see the link to the article below).



Successive Governments have targeted the majority of good, decent landlords and utterly failed to eradicate rogue landlords. There are over one million private landlords in the UK and it is always the honest landlord who has to comply with the legislation whilst the rogue landlord does what they like.



It is this inequality in the treatment of landlords that is the real scandal. There is clearly one law for honest landlords and one law for rogue landlords, but all are tarred with the same brush. No-one wants rogue landlords, especially not decent landlords.



Jon Snow should have said that Dispatches has shown two people who are representative of rogue landlords, not the majority of private landlords. Grant Shapps should target rogue landlords and at the same time make life easier for the majority of landlords who already comply with the law.



This country needs the housing that honest landlords provide, it does not need a witch hunt.



Click here to read the article Tenant 'caused £13k worth of damage to Lincoln home'



Click here to visit the NetRent Facebook campaign The Damage That Some Tenants Do



Click here to comment on this story The NetRent For

Dutch want to throw out migrant Poles who can't find a job

Dutch want to throw out migrant Poles who can't find a job


Migrants out of work for three months 'should be kicked out of the country'

Tenfold increase in Poles in four years in Holland

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2011096/Dutch-want-throw-migrant-Poles-job.html#ixzz1RG000jDb

Can you imagine Cameron and his LIbDem Government (it certainly is not Tory) doing this. All the major parties love the EU they are like lap dogs to this terrible organisation yet in a recent survey 50% of Tory MP's want come out of the EU and 75% of Tory members want the same, when will these week knees MP's do something about it

Cotswold Caravanning

Caravan trip to Slimbridge Cotswold weekend July 1st 2011


This time we had good weather for the full 4 days and stayed at the Tudor Park here is there bumf and came up to everything that was said of it. Those who can remember Peter West will know he found the Westlands trust about 60 years ago we visited this place and went on one of those Land Rover excursions it was great.

Tudor Caravan Park is one of the best located caravan & campsites in Gloucestershire.

A quiet country caravan site right alongside the Gloucester-Sharpness canal,

an easy 5 minute walk from the world famous Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Centre at Slimbridge.

Sitting by the Canal was also enjoyable watching the Narrow Boats go by drinking a nice cold Beer brilliant, there is so much to see in the Cotswolds, we travelled to Cirencester to look round this unique place then on the Cotswold Wild Life Park and back through the countryside seeing some amazing villages, streams, rivers churches etc I can recommend this part of the World to anyone.



The start of the trip nearly never happened I hooked on the caravan began to pull out with the Wheel clamp still connected, with it jammed up the wheel arch I thought I would have to go back and get a hack saw as you can imagine my patience was sorely worn (or as Valerie’s says I lost my temper) luckily enough I found a friend Mr Hammer so much for £50 worth Wheel security it took just 10 minutes to knock it off.

I recently purchased a new vehicle it is a Volkswagen Caravelle 5 year old a beautiful 7 seated MPV with seat you can turn and have a the table in the middle, you can remove them all together. The most expensive luxury I have ever purchased, normally I plough money back into my business or into the IBF and Sambo but at 61 I thought NO this time I will buy something just for me and the wife, something the two of us can enjoy. This is a marvellous vehicle, automatic, pulls and drives like a dream, has a TV in the back (have not found out how to work that yet) and lots of other gizmo’s. On the way back the tank was on red I thought I could make it to the Detling Service Station, the VW had other ideas as we came of the M20 it slowed down to 25 mph no matter what I done it would not go faster as we approached Detling hill it got slower (Then I got “I told you to fill up at the last service station, but you always know better”) we crawled up the Hill in 1st at 5 mph at the top it picked up to 25 mph getting to the fuel station, I filled up and we went as per normal. This VW is not a vehicle it is ROBOT it can think for me, some may say that is not such a bad thing; I will never say a bad thing about VW again. Well not in ear shot as it may hear me.

Once again I will tell anyone to try caravanning it is great and cheap, I have include some photo’s for those of you who are bored


https://picasaweb.google.com/Valmarclarke/SlimBridgeCotswold2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCK7v-PKT1uTkUw#