Yes, this is me in full flow!
I’m a gob on legs. A mouth almighty.
I’ve always taken my elected role as a county councillor seriously. I cover a large division made up of seven wards and 43,000 people. To be honest when I started out (more on that another time…) I didn’t expect it would take over my life. But it has…hindsight is a wonderful thing as they say.
So here’s me speaking at a demo in Ramsgate, which I’d helped to organise with SOS (Save Our Seas) Ramsgate. The local MP, Craig Mackinlay was invited and duly turned up and I presented him with a pair of super snazzy trunks, (and a delightful turd necklace.) You’ll note I maintained his dignity and didn’t go for budgie smugglers. Only the colour – red – was offensive to him. The next day the swimming trunks were posted through my letterbox – such was the ire they provoked. I do like to think of Craig nipping round Ramsgate town in the dead of night to post them back.
The thing about speaking at a public meeting, especially outdoors, is this, you can’t half do it. You must plunge in! You have to take a deep breath and ‘go for it!’ Otherwise you won’t be heard – at least not at the back.
Last but not least. I stand by what I said at that demo. Public services, including the water companies should be owned by the public. Publicly owned for the public good. In the months and years that followed, the sewage crisis grew, and many millions more people became alert to the crap that water companies were responsible for. Literally. But are we any closer to cleaning up? Are we any closer to public ownership? I don’t think so. Not just yet.
Only the other day, I read the boss of South West Water, Susan Davy was awarded a £300,000 pay rise! That’s on top of her basic salary of £562,000. And despite outrage and despair over the Devon diarrhoea outbreak caused by polluted water. You couldn’t make it up.
Read the story on The Guardian’s website.
It’s nonsense like this that makes you want to raise your voice!
