Cash for gold alert

Shoppers cashing in old gold to buy new Christmas presents are facing a price war.

A batch of scrap gold offered to different local shops by Medway Council Trading Standards officers fetched prices varying by as much as £50. The best offer was £130 and the lowest £80.

Now trading standards is urging people who want to sell their old gold to shop around for the best price.

Cllr Peter Hicks, Medway Council Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, said: “Our trading standards officers have shown just how much gold prices can vary. People wanting to sell old gold shouldn’t just accept the first offer they receive.”

Nearly one in four council tenants have been pushed into arrears by the bedroom tax in areas across the South East

Press release from the TUC

Nearly one in four council housing tenants affected by the bedroom tax in areas across the South East have fallen behind on their rent since its introduction earlier this year, according to new figures released today (Thursday) by False Economy.

Figures provided by 19 local authorities across the South East in response to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests by False Economy show that since the bedroom tax was introduced this April, more than 2,000 council housing tenants – 23 per cent of all tenants affected by the tax in these areas – have been pushed into arrears.

Nanny Wade speaks to the Nation

What follows is the insight of Nanny Wade, a resident of the Hoo Peninsula, into the plans of the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. She has all the disarming logic of my own grandmother, I may even adopt Nanny Wade to bring some of this mastery of the bleedin obvious back into my life. (Ed)

Boris’s Great Plan.

Knock down Heathrow and build thousands of houses in it’s place and build a
huge new airport on the Hoo Peninsula. So far, so good.

Who wants to move to Boris’s new town when one of the biggest employers in
the area is no longer there? Oh yes, they can travel to work in Grain! They
can join all the regular commuters and the airport traffic struggling to get
along the already horrendously gridlocked roads. The A2/M2 is full to
overflowing now and the road from the A2 out to Grain is little more than a
country lane in some places, therefore much more land will need to be taken
to build the new roads over a much wider area than the airport covers.
People living well away from Grain will need to be relocated to accommodate
all the new infrastructure needed for many miles.

They say it creates loads of jobs in the area so new homes will need to be
built to accommodate the new workforce but the land is running out because
there is now an airport there! Oh, and where are all the local people who
want a job there? They’ve been moved out to make way for an airport and new
motorways but they had no trouble finding another home as there were loads
of new ones at Heathrow!

Nanny Wade

Do you think a Uiversity Technical College is needed in Medway?

Medway parents and students are being asked if they want Medway to have one of the country’s first University Technical Colleges (UTC).

Too Stupid or Greedy to Help Each Other

Well Channel 4 proved it tonight on their new quiz “The Bank Job”, as a nation it would appear that self serving greed, lying and stupidity are alive and well and we are ready to have the nation see it in us.

Local Planning a National Issue

Ah! Now here’s a prickly one for you, no matter where you live, be it planning for a road, an extension to your house, an airport or even the high street, it is bound to be contentious and fraught with problems at some point during the proceedings. Prepare yourself beforehand because at no point in your life, whether you are planning a day trip or another M25, will you ever satisfy everyone affected by your plan.