Nice to be back at the desk today after some time away, checking in on the state of the world following the season of peace and goodwill.. oh.

Good morning from Kent County Council, where things are about to get underway for the last time this year. On the agenda today: Cutting committee meetings, introducing political assistants, Tunbridge Wells water issues, and more.

When I first started writing about local council meetings, I didn't imagine this is the kind of thing I'd end up covering. Where we are right now is incredibly bleak.

...and just like that, we're now free of Substack.

"...waste bins on Luton Road have been transformed into sound systems. When you put waste in, the bin thanks you, plays a message from local children or spits some beats..." Can't stress how obnoxious this sounds. Might even encourage me to start littering.

We’re trying to buy a house. We’ve seen one we really like and have made it through a couple of the stages towards getting it. So of course I’m planning our new lives, ignoring the fact we likely have to fight 30 other applicants to the death, Hunger Games style, before it’s ours.

Three expelled Reform councillors on Kent County Council, Cllrs Paul Thomas, Brian Black, and Oliver Bradshaw, have formed a new group called The Independent Group. No word yet on whether they will be sharing a photo of them all having a Nando's before hurtling into electoral oblivion.

Best article that I have read so far on the inept shambles that have been happening where I live in Tunbridge Wells. I still think not enough is made of the fact they sent the emergency water to a completely different town.

This is a very good write up of the water situation in Tunbridge Wells.

I don't want to say that everyone is struggling these days, but the local church has sent us a bookmark instead of a Christmas card this year.

It's a big, slightly scary day for us as we move @kentcurrent.news to Ghost. Substack has been good for us, but we reached the point where too many things there were working against us. We'll be doing the same with @localauthority.news in the coming weeks.

Finally, the British public gets something right in a poll.

I didn't get into local journalism to set up a pen pal scheme with another Medway in Canada, but that's where life takes you sometimes.

Hardly any of the newly elected Reform councillors had experience of local government. Among their ranks were decorators, landlords, gas engineers, teachers, a carpet-store owner, a photographer and a paramedic ✏️ @edjennings.bsky.social

🗞️ Our latest issue is on sale - Welcome to Kent: A Reform UK council Featuring @edjennings.bsky.social, @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social, Jessica Cecil, @jamesrball.com, @sonia-sodha.bsky.social and more Get 10 weeks for £10: buff.ly/hI3VUVd

Some personal news.

Kent politics keeps getting weirder.

Good evening from tonight’s full Medway Council meeting. A big meeting tonight where the council will set out their local government reorganisation position, and we also have the remaining business from last month’s abandoned meeting. Full agenda here: democracy.medway.gov.uk/ieListDocume...

I still can’t believe that reference survived the edit.

I'm on a podcast! Sadly I wasn't asked for my views on tunnelling to the Isle of Wight though.

🎄 Flags spark as a festive stand-off, with one village claiming it can't put up Christmas lights until flags come down 🗣️ A chaotic Kent County Council meeting ➡️ What else is happening at KCC this week? 🗞️ News in brief, and more

Kent County Council is getting underway. Slightly odd arrangements in place where usual press seats have been closed, leaving us in the public gallery, which has 14 seats. Far more than 14 people are here, leading to several journalists and others being left outside of the room. But we’re in.

Another one gone in Kent. Cllr Isabella Kemp, elected for Reform in May, is now listed as an independent. It is unclear at this point precisely why Cllr Kemp has exited the party. This means Reform has now lost 9 of the 57 councillors they saw elected only six months ago.

Characteristically excellent local reporting from @edjennings.bsky.social today. "Kent has said for years that it cannot cope alone. Geography turned the county into the UK’s de facto reception service for unaccompanied children, and capacity has repeatedly buckled."

Reform is still in charge, at least on paper, but much of its authority now exists only in theory. If this is Reform’s model for government, Kent may have provided Britain with a warning. ✏️ @edjennings.bsky.social

This is fantastic. Well worth reading to get a glimpse of what a Reform government might look like.

St John's, Tunbridge Wells by-election result: Joe Dore (TW Independents) - 20 Kit Hawes-Webb (TW Alliance) - 105 Chris Hoare (Reform) - 177 Ukonu Obasi (Lib Dem) - 629 - ELECTED Kate Sargeant (Green) - 160 David Sumner (Conservative) - 90 Turnout: 28.4%

The catastrophic mess at Kent County Council shows what happens when a populist party, with no idea how government works, gets into power ✏️ @edjennings.bsky.social

So, er, I have the main story on the front page of the @thenewworldmag.bsky.social. Not bad for a random guy with a blog that got out of hand.

Three more Kent Reform councillors have been expelled from the party. Cllrs Brian Black, Oliver Bradshaw, and Paul Thomas have all been kicked out for showing "a lack of integrity" and "a pattern of dishonest and deceptive behaviour."

Two Kent Reform councillors have been formally expelled from the party. Cllr Robert Ford and Cllr Bill Barrett have been kicked out after being suspended over the last fortnight for "bringing the party into disrepute."

We've shared lots more photos from Saturday's UKIP march and counter-protest in Rochester over on our Instagram:

Yes, Medway is doing just fine, thank you very much. Why do you ask?

Four Reform councillors in Kent have been suspended following a leaked video of internal disagreements over the weekend. Paul Thomas, Oliver Bradshaw, Maxine Fothergill, and Bill Barrett have all lost the whip this morning. Reform in Kent have now lost 7 of the 57 councillors elected in May.

Turns out basing your entire business model around Substack isn't necessarily ideal when Amazon decides to break the internet.

Essential - maddening - reading from @kentcurrent.news: open.substack.com/pub/kentcurr...

Really enjoyed doing this!

Tonight! I'll be speaking at @mediacomgold.bsky.social at @goldsmithsuol.bsky.social alongside Jason Gibbins of the BBC and @davidfloydnews.bsky.social of Social Spider on why local journalism matters.

Another one falls in Kent. Reform has suspended county councillor Robert Ford after a complaint was made about him by 'several female members of staff.' The party said that Cllr Ford refused to engage with the complaints process, so he has had the whip removed pending a disciplinary process.

Another one falls in Kent. Reform has suspended county councillor Robert Ford after a complaint was made about him by 'several female members of staff.' The party said that Cllr Ford refused to engage with the complaints process, so he has had the whip removed pending a disciplinary process.

Looking forward to speaking at this tomorrow!

Forcing people who want to open pubs to pay over the odds to zombie local news outlets to publicise their licence applications does not support pubs, it supports the corporate owners of zombie news outlets.

Curious that the KM believe local people can only know about licensing changes if the KM is paid to feature them as opposed to just, you know, writing about them as news stories.

Multiple Conservative councillors in Kent are defecting to Reform today. Cllr Robbie Lammas in Medway, a former staffer to Richard Holden, has jumped. Cllr Gary Harding, Cllr David Beattie, Cllr Emma Elliott, and Cllr Aaron Elliott in Gravesham defected en masse this morning in Gravesham.

Phenomenal for fans of Mark Reckless' current adventures. A Reform camera apparently glitched and replaced him.. with a walnut.

"You don’t fight the politics of violence by quibbling with the details. You stamp it into a million pieces! You draw a f*cking line!" If Keir Starmer won’t even make a moral case against deporting our friends and neighbours, then what is the point of him?

Thrilled to be speaking at @goldsmithsuol.bsky.social again next month on why local journalism matters. Come for the PowerPoint, stay for the drinks reception!

Delightful to see the party currently leading in the polls front and centre across the news today, with plans to remove the right to live and work here indefinitely from hundreds of thousands of people, including my own partner. Really lovely way to start the week.

Utterly grim.

The Medway school at the centre of an argument over awarding a Nigel Farage t-shirts to a student winning an essay contest has u-turned and will no longer offer the prize. They told this to the Daily Mail, which does at least reference our original reporting. What an odd couple of days.