Iain Dale reports that Total Politics is holding its annual poll to find Britain's top political blogs. The full rules are on his blog. The closing date for votes is 31 July 2010. Please mark your entries 1. Liberal England.How can Labour split the coalition? Easy, says SNP Tactical Voting: "by pushing for PR that Lib Dems won't be able to resist voting for and the Tories, particularly those on the backbenches, will fight tooth and nail against."Birkdale Focus looks back to the 1945 general election. The Liberal candidate in Southport was Bob Martin - yes, that Bob Martin. Despite his nice wet nose, he did not win the seat.When will Prime Minister David Cameron reaffirm and extend the Wilson Doctrine on the protection from snooping on constituents' communications with their elected...

Vice president Bea Girkin took the meeting as the president attended the National Federation AGM in Cardiff. A delegate is required to report on the County Annual Meeting in Clacton later this year, 3 other members may attend at £5 each.After the committee meeting at the president's home on 29 June a programme planning meeting follows at 11am. Please bring along suggestions for 2011.Contributions to the stall at the school fayre can be brought at 1pm or taken to the president's home the day before.Maureen Williams from SAGA spoke about the various services and holidays available from the company. No meeting next month as annual outing.This material has been developed for the West Bergholt Village Website at...

How Clacton-on-Sea has become a Hindu focal...

In a typical piece of puerile electoral theatricality, desperate UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, now trailing 3rd in most opinion polls, is sending 3 of the Royal Navy’s ships to head up an operation to rescue Britons stranded abroad by the Icelandic volcanic ash crisis. After carefully stage-managed meetings of the emergency planning COBRA committee in Whitehall designed to extend the feeling of “crisis”, the PM, flanked by incompetent Foreign Secretary David Miliband and inept Transport Secretary Lord Adonis, breathlessly set out his plans utilising the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (pictured above) and 2 other Royal Navy ships for the “relief effort”, centred around the English Channel. Never mind that the ferry companies say they can cope – never...

From a Georgian-themed yurt to a stylish Iron Age roundhouse, Alastair Sawday's new website showcases the next level of upmarket camping across the UKWhen I was a boy, I spent much of my spare time up a tree. The long months of revision for my A-levels were spent in a state of suspended bliss, at the top of a pine tree on a valley's edge with long, wooded views. There I lay for hours at a time, reading. Nobody knew I was there. I passed those A-levels, and the iron bedstead is still there 47 years later.I would spend weekends camping, as well as canoeing on the Wey river in Surrey. I camp rarely now, but the nostalgia is strong. When I discovered a treehouse at one of the B&Bs; I reviewed for our guidebook series, I resolved to find more yurts, Gypsy caravans, shepherd's huts, safari...

Labour has made a big deal about the effect that Lord Ashcroft's cash has had on the Conservatives.  What they won't acknowledge in public is that they have numerous non-dom sources of cash themselves.  The Conservatives today published a paper about another source of cash funding their Labour campaign, that of cash from the Unite Union. The Conservatives are taking the fight to the Unions and to Charlie Whelan in particular.The Paper does a good job in spelling out the financial and political influence the Union has over the Labour Party and even spells out where the two organisations have effective merged into one operation.  The underlying effect is that the Unite Union has a hand in running the country, and none of us voted for that!  They have taken advantage of...

The Clacton & Frinton Gazette is a weekly tabloid newspaper sold in two editions in the south-eastern part of the Tendring peninsula in Essex, taking in the towns of Clacton-on-Sea, Frinton-on-Sea and Walton-on-the-Naze. It was founded in 1889. It’s published by Newsquest (Essex) from editorial offices in Clacton. The two editions are: Clacton Gazette Frinton & Walton Gazette Both come out on Thursdays. Website: http://www.clactonandfrintongazette.co.uk/ Address: Clacton & Frinton Gazette 28 Jackson Road CLACTON CO15 1QL Tel: 01255 221221 Fax: 01255 222902 Clacton & Frinton Gazette is a post from: British Newspapers...

Whilst sorting through some paperwork over the last few days I found this photograph. It was taken almost thirty years ago at my secondary school.The picture shows just under fifty eighteen-year-olds who were just about to take their A levels. I'm in the back row, fifth from the right. The one with far more hair than is strictly necessary.There are four or five people on the photo who I am still in touch with but I lost touch with most of them soon after the photo was taken.But seeing the old photo again got me thinking. We were fifty-odd kids from an average Essex town. Half of our adult lives has been lived through the internet revolution. We've seen this rise and fall of Friends Reunited and MySpace and now, surely, most of us are on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Or, at the very...

When Daniel Hannan described the NHS as a sixty year mistake, he did something unforgivable; he dared to criticise a national institution. For over half a century we have been indoctrinated into thinking the NHS is the envy of the world. We have been indoctrinated into thinking if we take ill overseas, the standard of care will not be a high as it is in the UK. We have also been indoctrinated into thinking the only option there is to the NHS is the US system of healthcare provision. This perhaps has been the most sinister lie of those on the left, and it is this argument that is wheeled out every time some of us try and discuss the future of healthcare in this country. The indoctrination worked very well for decades, until we decided to holiday in other countries, rather than Blackpool...

Under 11Cornard Dynamoes 2 - 2 Bergholt Heath(J Bowden, A Marley)Under 14Bergholt Heath 0 - 6 Cornard DynamoesUnder 15Bergholt Heath 2 - 3 Clacton(A Bartlett 2)Under 16Wivenhoe 4 - 1 Bergholt Heath(A Ponsford)This material has been developed for the West Bergholt Village Website at...

This morning I have a lengthy comment piece in the Daily Telegraph arguing that it is up to the new breed of MPs to change Parliament for the better and restore trust in politics.Admitting that you want to be an MP in the present climate marks you out as either a social misfit or someone suffering from delusions. I have almost got to the stage of feeling I should attend a meeting of Politicians Anonymous to bare my soul. My name is Iain and I want to be an MP. There. I've said it. My family and friends think I am mad. Why would I want to subject myself to a life of constant public scrutiny over everything I say or do? Well, I take the view that if those of us who aspire to public service allow ourselves to be put off by the current breakdown in trust between voters and politicians, we are...

Under 11Holland Blues 0 - 3 Bergholt Heath(J Holden 3)Under 14Bergholt Heath 1 - 11 Alresford(J Aldridge)Under 15Bergholt Heath 3- 2 Clacton Reds(A Bartlett, T Hodder, G Wheeler)Under 16Bergholt Heath 2 - 5 Wivenhoe(B Trood, H Warrick)This material has been developed for the West Bergholt Village Website at...

Great Bentley: Restaurant 'employed 5 illegal immigrants' (From Clacton and Frinton Gazette) A RESTAURANT in Great Bentley faces a fine of up to £50,000 after employing five alleged illegal immigrants. The Thai Flag now faces a fine unless it can prove the correct pre-employment checks were carried out. Restaurant manager William Ng said: “At the moment we are still waiting to sort things out. “But we believe we have the correct documentation and when they came to work I saw their documents. “I believe they have permission to work in the UK, which is why I employed them.” Mr Ng, who is originally from Hong Kong but has lived in the UK for 38 years, said the restaurant has only been open 14 weeks. The UK Border Agency said a fine of up to £10,000 per worker can be imposed for...

H/T to the Magistrate for finding this letter to the Times; Sir, If opportunities are being sought for cuts in the public sector, a good place to start might be in the legal system, in particular the Courts Service. As an example, in 2003 the Courts Service was enlarged to include within its embrace the administration of the magistrates’ courts and statutory tribunals in England and Wales. At the time Sir Hayden Phillips, then Permanent Secretary at the Lord Chancellor’s Department (now the Ministry of Justice), said that to effect that change the number of civil servants required would rise to about 25,000, at an annual cost of £3 billion. Before 2003 the justices of the peace for hundreds of years had been entirely independent, managing their own courts locally at...

U11 "A" LeagueBergholt Heath 1 - 3 Cornard BluesThis was the first match at 11 a-side for the team, against one of the stronger clubs in the top division. After finding themselves 2-0 down at half time and a little shell shocked, the boys upped the tempo in the second half after finding themselves 3-0 down and probably should have had more than the one goal, scored by James Holden. Jamie Bowden was voted man of the match.U14 "D" LeagueThe U14s first match of the season was cancelled as the opposition - AFC Sudbury - could not put a team out. So the U14s sit joint top of the table with 3 points!U15 "C" LeagueClacton United 3 - 2 Bergholt HeathAn under-strength U15s (with only 10 players available) narrowly lost their opening match of the season away to Clacton United 3-2. Luke Duffy...

Cllr. Jayanti Patel, a hard-working councillor for Woodside since 2002, has been ditched by Labour. Four more face the boot.Nasty personal and homophobic website created by Labour to attack local Conservatives set up, but now closed following police investigation. Current and former Labour councillors allegedly involved with it.Two FoI requests been put into the Council by a Labour councillor in an attempt to embarrass and smear a fellow Labour councillor.A certain Seven Sisters councillor has been humiliated in his attempt to introduce an Eruv in the Ward by secular and Muslim colleagues.Noel Park Labour members furious to discover that of the three of their 'local' council candidates, one works in Clacton-on-Sea and another is trying to become the MP for England's most northern...

Stella Akanbi went missing while swimming with a friend near Clacton-on-Sea in EssexRescuers searching for 10-year-old Stella Akanbi who went missing yesterday off the Essex coastline have found the body of a young girl.Stella disappeared while swimming with a friend, also 10, near Clacton-on-Sea. The girls were on a day trip from Milton Keynes when both got into difficulties in the water. Members of the public rushed to their aid and managed to bring one girl ashore, but were unable to help Stella, police said.Rescuers said a body was discovered shortly after 3.30pm today off an area known locally as the palace breakwater, close to where she disappeared.Steve Moffatt, sector manager for the coastguard in the Clacton area, told the Clacton Gazette there was "some confusion about what...

Throw open the windows, kick off your shoes and mix yourself an ice-cold cocktail . . . producers, pundits and pop stars reveal the secret to a great holiday singleWhat makes a song perfect for the summer? Britain's first No 1 holiday hit was Jerry Keller's Here Comes Summer. Topping the charts in 1959, it celebrated teenage innocence and escape: "School is out, oh happy day/ Here comes summer/ I'm going to grab my girl and run away." Strangely, the American's song reached the top spot in the UK in the rather unseasonal month of October, but perhaps this shows us that some summer singles are more about dreams than sweaty, sunburnt reality. This year, the big hit is expected to be Dizzee Rascal and Calvin Harris's imminent Holiday, a dancefloor-stormer about the typical British...

The Gazette – variously known as the Colchester Gazette and the Daily Gazette, and once known as the Colchester Evening Gazette – is an evening tabloid newspaper sold in Colchester and surrounding parts of North Essex from Mondays to Fridays. Its circulation area covers the towns of Clacton-on-Sea, Frinton-on-Sea and Walton on the Naze to the east; Harwich and Manningtree to the north; Braintree and Witham to the west; and Maldon, West Mersea and Brightlingsea to the south. It was founded in 1970. It’s published by Newsquest (Essex) from editorial offices in Colchester. There’s also a companion paid weekly title, the Essex County Standard, which has substantially the same circulation area; and a freesheet, the Colchester Weekly News, which is restricted to the area...

Orange Solar Concept Tent The Orange tent is a concept idea which aims to be the “Tent of the Future”. It was designed by Orange and is covered with fabric solar panels allowing you to make sure your essential gadgets can always be kept charged. The Tent Concept harnesses solar energy by using photovoltaic fabric around the top of the tent. This power is then channelled down to a wireless charging pouch where you can place your phone and other similar gadgets to keep charged. The fabric that captures the energy also moves to match the direction of the sun to harness it’s rays at all times of the day. As well as capturing energy and allowing gadgets to be charged, the Solar Tent also has glo-clacton technology by allowing users to SMS their tent which in turn, makes...

[The Friday Special - A Guest Post By Grand Old Uncle Stagnant] My jelly babies were all lost at sea on that infamous day when all the professional snooker players in the world descended on Clacton-on-Sea to compare the size and gaudiness of their respective waistcoats. Still, we did not mourn the loss of the jelly babies, despite having seven of them already enrolled in Media Studies courses at some of the new universities that were formerly polytechnics. We laugh now at the educational aspirations of garden gnomes, but there was a time - not too long ago - when all of this was fields and budgerigar husbandry was a dark, secret and noble art. I take an interest in your underwear and what you keep inside it. My cheese and sweet-pickle baguette has never tasted so warm, or so moist....

Parties round on Martin for defending 'vested interests' as he accuses Commons critics of courting headlines on expensesMichael Martin, the Commons Speaker, is facing the threat of a no-confidence motion after he censured a number of MPs todaywho attempted to speak out against his handling of the row over parliamentary expenses and allowances.As Martin was accused of "disgraceful" conduct in the Commons, Tory MP Douglas Carswell said he would canvass for signatures for what would be the first no-confidence motion in a speaker in more than 300 years. "Enough is enough," he said last night, dismissing Martin as "useless". The MP for Harwich and Clacton had in the past refrained from tabling a motion after pressure from Tory whips, but announced his move after the Speaker turned on MPs who...

Last Saturday (25th April) the West Bergholt Concert Band hosted a free afternoon workshop with local secondary school pupils, continuing its commitment to encourage young musicians to pursue their skills and talent. In the evening the pupils joined with the Band to perform a concert in aid of Muscular Dystrophy at St. Botolph's Church. The evening was a great success, attended by the Mayor and her Consort and local MP, Mr Bob Russell; all expressed their appreciation and enjoyment of the evening. Mr Russell has now attended six of the band's concerts in recent years.The Band has two concerts coming up in its summer programme, featuring Last Night of the Proms classics plus 'Swing' favourites:Saturday June 23rd (7:30pm) – Westcliff Theatre, Clacton (*)Saturday July 14th (7:30pm)...

The Harwich & Manningtree Standard is the lead edition of a weekly tabloid newspaper sold in and around the towns of Harwich and Manningtree in the North Essex district of Tendring, at either end of the Stour estuary. It covers the town of Harwich, Parkeston, Dovercourt, Wrabness and the eastern part of the newspaper’s footprint. It was founded in 1877. It’s published by Essex County Newspapers Ltd, part of Newsquest (Essex), from editorial offices in Clacton-on-Sea. As of April 2009 it was the only local paper for the Tendring district and the most popular title in its circulation area. The other edition is the Manningtree & Harwich Standard, which covers Manningtree, the neighbouring villages of Lawford and Mistley, and the western part of the newspaper’s footprint. Both...

The Manningtree & Harwich Standard is one of two editions of a weekly tabloid newspaper sold in and around the towns of Harwich and Manningtree in the North Essex district of Tendring, at either end of the Stour estuary. It covers the town of Manningtree, the neighbouring villages of Lawford and Mistley, and the western part of the newspaper’s footprint. It was founded in 1877. It’s published by Essex County Newspapers Ltd, part of Newsquest (Essex), from editorial offices in Clacton-on-Sea. As of April 2009 it was the only local paper for the Tendring district and the most popular title in its circulation area. The other (lead) edition is the Harwich & Manningtree Standard, which covers Harwich, Parkeston, Wrabness and the eastern part of the newspaper’s...

"Green Snowball" - low carbon campaigning in action - Monday 20thGreen Party European election candidates and supporters took trains to London on Monday 20th April to campaign right across the six counties of Eastern Region.Starting at first from Norwich, Clacton and Peterborough, the Greens headed for London, taking the train to key stations on the network and stopping for an hour or so to deliver leaflets and canvass local residents. Along the way, candidates and supporters joined at many more towns including Luton, St. Albans, Bedford, Stowmarket, Ipswich, Witham and Chelmsford. The plan was to visit up to 50 stations on 7 routes, with supporters joining up along the way - a "snowball" effect as more and more supporters joined in the fun on the way to...

Image via CrunchBase In sacking a 16-year-old employee for describing her job as ‘boring’ on her Facebook page, the senior management of Ivell Marketing & Logistics in Clacton have together demonstrated their complete inability to grasp the significance and power of the Internet both at home and abroad to make or break reputations. In one astoundingly dim stroke the company has managed to not only act grossly unfairly towards the teenage girl—she did not name the company she worked for, if she had they might have got away with what they did in the forum of worldwide opinion—but it has made itself a headline-grabbing laughing stock for being so scandalously petty and vindictive. The company may or may not have a website of its own. I haven’t...

The Lib Dems 4 Parliament site brings news about a bumper set of selections closing in March: GEDLING - PPC (28th Feb 2009). HARWICH AND NORTH ESSEX - PPC (2nd Mar 2009). CLACTON - PPC (2nd Mar 2009). BECKENHAM - PPC (5th Mar 2009). WELSH Region - PPC’s (6th Mar 2009). WAKEFIELD - PPC (7th Mar 2009). NORMANTON, PONTEFRACT AND CASTLEFORD - PPC (7th Mar 2009). MORLEY AND OUTWOOD - PPC (7th Mar 2009). HEMSWORTH - PPC (7th Mar 2009). HARROW WEST AND HARROW EAST - PPC (13th Mar 2009). Harrow West - PPC (13th Mar 2009). Harrow East - PPC (13th Mar 2009). North West Region PPC’s (13th Mar 2009). Mid-Bedfordshire - PPC (14th Mar 2009). YORKSHIRE & THE HUMBER REGION - PPC’S (20th Mar 2009). PUDSEY - PPC (20th Mar 2009). SOUTH EAST Region - PPCs (20th Mar 2009). Yorkshire...

Its seems a regular occurrence in the news that social networks, such as Facebook, Myspace are becoming a new way to restrict your employability. According to Sky News, Kimberley Swann a 16 year old girl from Clacton, mentioned that her office job was “boring” a fairly innocuous statement which millions would be able to make and do. Her employer Ivell Marketing & Logistics were rather offended and apparently sacked her without allowing her to explain, her mother pointed out that “she didn’t mention the company’s name. Steve Ivell of the company is reported to have said "Her display of disrespect and dissatisfaction undermined the relationship and made it untenable." I just took a look at the website for Ivell Marketing & Logistics Ltd, and find it full of noble...

In days gone by, the travelling man had to navigate the Earth by his own devices, pinpointing his rough location by the position of the sun in the sky, often taking wild guesses that would lead to his death. How far the human race has advanced since then: man no longer has to fear being eaten by a sea monster or wild elephant thanks to the technical magic of satellite mapping. The essential problem of getting from A to B remains, however, as most of the time even GPS systems have no bloomin’ idea what they’re harping on about. So, instead of being killed by wild Barbarian hordes, man simply finds himself in Aberdeen when he wanted to go to Clacton. Stupid technology. GPS Gold Five places you may well be directed to by your Google GPS. 1. Somewhere, Cornwall, UK. Made famous...