Good evening. I’m here for tonight’s Medway Council budget meeting, where the finances will be set for the current year. I’ll be liveblooting it from 7pm. Join me!

Sorry, what?

Thinking about this far too much this morning, particularly after KentOnline happily wrote up their press release with no further context. On the other hand, we have always engaged with and interviewed council group leaders. Restore now third largest on KCC, so how to approach is a challenge.

The wildest thing about this is that Taylor attended sentencing directly from jail after breaching his bail conditions. One week ago, he turned up at the Kent County Council budget meeting and spoke in the debate, so he's had quite the week.

My Evernote renewal has gone from £79 last year to £155 this year. So, er, can anyone recommend an alternative? Just need somewhere I can dump a ton of notes and files in a ton of different formats.

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Seven KCC councillors have formed a new Restore Britain group at County Hall, giving a national hard-right project a foothold in Kent. We unpack who’s moved, why Reform fractured, and what Restore’s first real test has looked like.

I don't want to say AI is shit, but I just asked ChatGPT to suggest potential Kent interviewees for our publications, and it told me to get in touch with Charles Dickens, Siegfried Sassoon and Geoffrey Chaucer. I think they might be unavailable.

Kent County Council latest: Seven KCC councillors have defected to Rupert Lowe's Restore Britain tonight. They are Paul Thomas, Brian Black, Oliver Bradshaw, Maxine Fothergill, Isabella Kemp, Robert Ford, and Dean Burns. Most had already been kicked out of Reform, with the exception of Burns.

Kent County Council latest: Seven KCC councillors have defected to Rupert Lowe's Restore Britain tonight. They are Paul Thomas, Brian Black, Oliver Bradshaw, Maxine Fothergill, Isabella Kemp, Robert Ford, and Dean Burns. Most had already been kicked out of Reform, with the exception of Burns.

Everything about this is pretty jaw-dropping. The video of the town council being confronted about this live during a meeting is quite something.

Googled Medway and wtf?

Always good to see the Mill empire expanding. (At least until they decide to march on the southeast, anyway)

Important local news.

Good morning. I'm here at today's Kent County Council meeting, where the Reform-led administration will propose its first budget. It is the only item on the agenda, but expect it to be contentious.

If it gets the point where you have to include 'today' in this sort of statement, it's probably over.

This is going to yield some hilarious results under First Past the Post.

Congratulations to the Guardian for exclusively revealing what loads of us were shouting about for years.

Having a fun morning digging into the very weird usage of AI by Kent councillors.

There's something weirdly similar about these people fighting to stop people having places to live but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Quite a telling quote from previous coverage. Men being disengaged from the real world is a big multiplier for social media brain.

This story is quite remarkable. Network Rail needs to replace a level crossing, meaning the road it's on needs to close for a period of time. The only problem? The road is the only way in and out for a village of 1,700 people, and no one seemed to realise that cutting them off might not be ideal.

Good evening. We’re here at full Medway Council, which is about to kick off. On the agenda tonight: intimidation at Swale, school streets, restricting democracy, and reviewing the constitution. I’ll be live tweeting it all right here. Join me.

There's something weirdly similar about all of these people trying to block housing being built but I can't quite put my finger on what it is.

Bloody hell. Very excited for this, horrifically expensive tickets aside.

Ukip have submitted a new logo and slogan to the Electoral Commission, swapping the £ pound sterling symbol for a cross, that looks very much like it is modelled on the Iron Cross used by Prussia & Germany 1871-1918 and Hitler's Nazi regime from 1933-45

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."