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speech inflec- YOUR LETTERS tion or impedi- ment it would be more con- High-speed vanity yourblogger sisent or only used as a point of emphasis. project’s false dawn Malcolm Triggs is old enough to know better, but believes Facebook is a very good thing Unless he elim- inates this false WRIGHT ON: Last way of speaking, week’s blogger FUNNY thing, Facebook. raise funds to build an education centre at Capel. I for one will As a father I see the wasted teenage time, lament The other week, one of the Fans asked me, as page never hear his message. Picture: ADYPicture: KERRY the awful grammar and poor spellings it inspires and admin, to reveal who I was because “My dad wants to Bob Keen despair of many of those jokey ‘Like’ groups that are thank you for setting up this page”. When I made con- only occasionally funny – although I confess to chuck- tact she told me her father was Charles (Tich) Palliser DFC AE, who flew with 43 and 249 Squadrons in the ling at “The awkward moment in McDonald’s when Cutting EMA lifeline Battle of Britain. an emo orders a Happy Meal”. Now 91 and living in Australia, Tich Palliser, We’ve all heard the one about the man sitting on his will damage UK plc wartime hero, asked his daughter Gill to sign him up In the entire furore about increases own in the pub with a laptop that ‘pings’ as a new mes- to Facebook so he could feel part of the anniversary SIDETRACKED: HS1 Javelin train sage arrives. “Yay, I’ve got 23 friends,” he shouts, only to in university tuition fees, the aboli- commemorations for what he and his mates had done. tion of education maintenance be asked why, in that case, is he sitting on his own. He was “absolutely thrilled” to find so many people It was launched with a fanfare of Too many people post too much drivel (or worse), too allowance (EMA) has got far less trumpets and it promised the dawn who still cared about the veterans. coverage, and yet it matters just as many schoolchildren are on Facebook when they This week, Gill posted another message pointing out of a new age of rail travel in the should be doing homework, and all of us should have much and there are a lot of recipi- South East. that she had now (thanks to Facebook) managed to more self-control when it comes to the F word. ents in Medway. Its roots go all the way back to trace the son of Tich’s best friend from 249 Squadron. But – and here I feel like the new boy at an AA meet- There are 3,500 students aged 16 the Channel Tunnel Bill and the “This is so wonderful for my dad,” she told the world. ing – I love it. “My name is Malcolm, I am 52 and I love to 18 in Medway who get the grant promise that even those of us who So, yes, Facebook has its faults, but even if making now, but unless the Government live in east Kent, behind the Facebook.” A weight has just lifted from my shoulders. Tich Palliser feel valued and helping him find the fam- Now I can start to rebuild my life. changes its mind they will be the “Tunnel door”, would enjoy the ben- ily of one of his long-lost friends is the only good thing last. The money goes to encourage Facebook allows me to see what friends and family efits of the rail link on domestic it ever does, it will have been worth all the “LOL JKS” students from less well-off families have been doing, share pictures, get involved in services. What a let down! in Christendom. But there is, of course, one more thing to stay on in school and college A year on, the much-vaunted lengthy debates and have a chuckle at status updates. it can do. It can inspire you, gentle reader, to visit rather than leave with low-level may contribute to the All good stuff – but not that important. So try this. www.battleofbritainmemorial.org and contribute to skills and take whatever job they domestic bliss of commuters from Last year I set up a Facebook page dedicated to the the appeal that will help future generations continue can get. And it works: MidKent Ashford to St Pancras who take aircrew who defended this country in 1940. It is called to remember Tich and his colleagues. College in Gillingham reckons 60 what the railway company likes to “Remembering the Few – The 70th anniversary of the EDITOR’S NOTE: All blogs are supplied with full name and per cent of their students get and call the “Happy Train” to and from Battle of Britain, 2010” and it now has 11,853 ‘Fans’. address of the authors. They do not reflect the view of the need the EMA. It is the same in work having enjoyed an extra 20 The page is part of a campaign to raise awareness of newspaper but are designed to give our readers the chance many of our secondary schools minutes in bed in the morning, but the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust, working hard to to air their views. where EMA is a serious motivator it does little for anyone else. to students in the last two years of In spite of risible claims that “a If there is a story in your area you think we should be covering contact the news editor, Gareth Arnold, on 01303 817025 or email him on the school. Heavens knows how British majority of commuters now use the details above. If you want to be the next Ashford blogger then all you have to do is submit an article to us (of around 550 words) and email it industry will ever reclaim world high-speed service” the reality is to the editor. And don’t forget, for all the latest news and video from your town log-on to www.yourashford.co.uk. status if we can’t get youngsters that anyone travelling from east into college to study as bricklayers Kent and the Medway towns is now hairdressers and mechanics. Maybe paying a great deal more to be No plans to sort out the missing have been amazed, I think, at the this Government thinks they taken to a station they do not want miles of new track, alter bridges, gall of those who, at least for the Monetary benefits should all hitch hike to college or to arrive at for the privilege of then remove level crossings and deliver moment, are being allowed to run get jobs as bankers. making a 20-minute underground the 60-minute service from our railway. No point in holding up are far from clear Derek Munton, by email journey back to the place they real- to London that was actu- the passengers at pistol-point, Dick. ly wanted to get to. At last it seems we are benefiting ally achievable a quarter of a centu- Their pockets have already been in some way from the Olympics Door-to-door journey times (the ry ago using old trains, old stock emptied by other highwaymen. Companies working times ministers, the Independent (Yourashford, December 1). and existing signals and track. Roger Gale MP (Con), Thanet North It was good to read a nursery in Parliamentary Standards Authority So much of our hard-earned boo- and the train operating company do Wye is supplying plants for the the transfer system dle has been ploughed into HS1 Olympic Park. However, the true I was pleased the Government has not understand are what matters) that there is nothing left over to announced plans to reduce by 2015 are longer and the fares higher. Our commuters are financial benefits still seem very swiftly upgrade the signals and the unclear. Councillors may hope we immigration from non-EU coun- What Southeastern trains points that might, then, at least tries to tens of thousands, rather euphemistically describes as the paying a premium can attract a visiting team to train deliver a swifter service on the I cannot see why Ashford com- at the Julie Rose stadium, but as than the hundreds of thousands it “classic” services that still run, occa- Kent coast line. And now, in order was under the previous govern- sionally, into Victoria, Blackfriars muters should pay any more for yet no one has confirmed they will to, as Southeastern’s media apolo- their season tickets than other com- be using it. There may be an ment. and Cannon Street now travel at gist so elegantly puts it, “pay for However, I was disappointed that snail’s pace, stop at stations most of muters in the county. increase in tourism but it that real- investment”, we are facing, follow- According to your report last istic. intra-company transfers were us never realised had escaped the ing three years of above average excluded from the immigration cap Beeching axe and are overcrowded. week, we will be paying nearly five Surely any first time visitors to fare increases, a further rise not of per cent more than other areas. the UK will want to see the sights that Home Secretary Theresa May Meanwhile, the high-speed trains the ministerial RPI plus three per announced, which is why I asked have been shortened in recognition Surely the percentage rise in fares and sounds of London rather than cent, but of 12.8 per cent on tracks should be the same across the come to Ashford. They may perhaps my question. The abuse of the of the lack of public support for that carry passengers to and from intra-company transfer system by what, with hindsight, has become board. It might be the case that find the time to visit Canterbury one of the areas of highest social Ashford has benefited most from and the cathedral. What do we some IT companies is a scandal an unfinished vanity monument to deprivation in the country. that has been going on for some the last government and many of the new high-speed trains but we have that can compare with those? And while those travelling faster have to pay a premium fare to Name and address supplied time and was brought to my notice the coaches that the benighted tax- and at less cost to other more afflu- by a constituent who was himself payers of Kent are being compelled enjoy the convenience. ent areas of the South East, Kent’s What about rail users who still made redundant when he was to fork out for lie idle and moth- rail passengers can only wonder at replaced by a foreign worker. My balled in goods yards in Faversham use the old mainline services to Message obscured the stupidity of a system that Victoria and Charing Cross? They constituent has been unable to find and elsewhere. No doubt to be spir- denies access to a port, a potentially another IT job since. ited away to another grand project have seen no benefit from the new by Ed’s glottal stop viable regional airport and, of trains. I was waiting to raise the matter in due course. course, to businesses that might I find myself unable to listen to a and the Home Secretary’s state- I really would like to applaud Although they pay less, the rise word Ed Miliband says – not wish to invest in east Kent if only of 12.7 per cent is still the same. ment was my opportunity. I will High Speed 1 but suspect I shall be they could travel there by rail at because of the content but because continue to press the Government pushing up daisies before any real Southeastern seems to have cho- of his totally false way of speaking. speeds in excess of 35mph. sen Ashford because it is a popular to crack down on companies which benefits accrue to those whose A year on, then, my view is that He attempts to adopt the current abuse the system and ensure interests I try to represent. route and it can make the most trend of deliberately dropping the ‘t’ HS1 has been brought about at money on it. If we want to attract British businesses do employ quali- There are, for instance, as inordinate cost and waste, to the off of the end of words and I find fied British workers when they are told me very recently, new business and people to the myself more intent upon seeking benefit of a very few and to the town rail fares need to be as low as available. no plans in the pipeline to extend detriment of the many who are these out than I do listening to the Javelin service from Ashford possible. what he is saying. It is a deliberate Gordon Henderson MP (Con), paying for it but who wish to use Name and address supplied Sittingbourne and Sheppey through to a Thanet parkway sta- other services. Dick Turpin would way of speaking as occasionally, he tion or even Ramsgate. forgets to do it. If it were a genuine