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Isle of Thanet in a Marlin II Hovercraft!

Written by Matt B · first published 04/01/2013
From the summer of 2012 a trip around the coast.

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Alexandra Topping please see me after class

Written by Matt B · first published 01/01/2013
This just in Alexandra Topping may not be a reliable reporter for Thanet Matters.

A short while ago we reported that there would be a four day enquiry into the Dreamland sale. This was in an aside about Tesco and Dreamland We said this because The Guardian's Alexandra Topping said it was so. However I can find no trace of any evidence that Alex knows what they are talking about. See also Save Dreamland: Latest News page for more likely to be accurate news.

There is no four day enquiry that I know of unless Alexandra Topping would care to share something that we are all clearly missing. Otherwise please do your homework. A phone call or a quick Google would be the least you could do when snapping out an item last hour before home time. Thanks.

I reached out to Ms Topping for a comment but have had no reply at this time.
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Made in Thanet: Bat for Lashes

Written by Matt B · first published 05/10/2012
Here is a video the backdrop of which might be familiar.

Natasha Khan (better known by her stage name Bat for Lashes), is an English singer-songwriter. The video to "All Your Gold", her single from upcoming album "The Haunted Man" was filmed here in Thanet.



Personally I had never heard of her but apparently Thom Yorke, Debbie Harry, and M.I.A. have complimented Khan's work, Ringo Starr said she was one of his favourite new artists, and Björk was also spotted at one of her early gigs. So there we go.
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Do you have any fond memories of the Thanet Times

Written by Matt B · first published 02/10/2012
The Thanet Times has gone.

Was The Thanet Times an important part of Thanet life and will, a year from now, it be missed?

Raising a glass to days of fun and frivolity at the Thanet Times | This is Kent

DID Hitler visit Thanet? Did songstress Mandy Winters have an alien's baby? Was a Ramsgate man eaten by a crocodile? The answers to these and a thousand similar intrigues could be found in the pages of...

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Thanet Times was one of the Northcliffe Media titles that were offered for sale to the KM Group until the OFT said no to the sale.

Northcliffe closes another weekly | Media | guardian.co.uk

The axe has a finally fallen on the Thanet Times, a part-free, part-paid weekly that was one of seven titles Northcliffe Media tried to sell to the KM Group last year.

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Thanet Times has been running for over a hundred years. They said via ThisIsKent It has been an honour to bring you the Thanet Times every week and we could not have done it without you – our readers.

Thanet Times publishes its final edition after 116 years | This is Kent

TODAY we turn the page on a piece of isle history with the final edition of the Thanet Times.The newspaper which spanned three centuries during its 116 year history, brought all the best local news...

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Did you read Thanet Times?

Do you have any fond memories of the Thanet Times? Tell us about them.

Northcliffe axes Kent weekly after 116 years - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage

The closure of the Thanet Times after 116 years of publication was announced in this week’s edition and carried on its website thisiskent today.

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Fairwell to the Thanet Times

Written by Matt B · first published 02/10/2012
The Thanet Times is to close it has been announced.

Northcliffe axes Kent weekly after 116 years - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage

The closure of the Thanet Times after 116 years of publication was announced in this week’s edition and carried on its website thisiskent today.

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What does this mean for news, journalism and politics in Thanet?
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This just in: Mary Portas not messiah (Joe might disagree)

Written by Matt B · first published 27/06/2012
It turns out that Mary continues to just be some girl with a camera.

Who knew, right.

Just in case anyone is confused. Margate gets cash whatever else happens.

Mary (who is not the messiah) might get to make a film about giving it to us and claim all the credit for government spending.

People will complain. (They always do)

It will make a small dent when the dust has settled.

That is all.
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Five things that are not the news (but we think are)

Written by Matt B · first published 20/05/2012
Sandy Ezekiel, Blue Flags, Independent Dominated Council and McFood are non-news.

Now, obviously I don't completely believe that but I'd like to take a leaf out of the book of certain local political types and justify why I have not had anything to say when the council's one time leader is being charged with corruption, Jimmy (I didn't start that fire) Godden's death, the change in local blue flags and the fact that the unaligned members are ruling the roost... and so on and so forth.

Peter C rightly accused me of running a boring blog. TDC being hijacked by independents, Sandy being charged with bribary, Theatre Royal in trouble (& rescued), blue flags returning to our beaches... & you're reviewing the service at McDonalds.

Peter is right but just admitting that would be boring. This has nothing to do with "other commitments" such as earning a living so let us see if I can do the political shuffle - here's an alternative argument why these things are phooy.

Sandy is not news


To some Sandy Ezekiel has been guilty since 2009 (or before). I reported this for Thanet News Network months ago. December of last year in fact.

The only real news is how much Chris Wells jumped up and down and threw his toys out of the pram. Chris, having less of a grasp of the role of media and news than say he has of the finer points of C++ Compiler Optimisations declared ...it must be asked with malicious intent when I asked facebook readers if they thought the old codger was guilty.

Over 66% of my straw poll pronounced him guilty.

No-one is, therefore, the least bit surprised that the slimy wat-not has been charged with something. To be honest most of us are supprised it did not happen sooner. (Standards board hearings in 2009 aside).

Sandy is not news.

Keep reading to find out what else is not the news

...

» Continue Reading: Five things that are not the news (but we think are)

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Is the last journalist about to switch off the lights?

Written by Matt B · first published 08/08/2011
Three years ago today the demise of the Thanet Gazette was predicted. Is that prediction coming true?

Back in 2008 Justin Williams an Assistant Editor at the Telegraph Media Group wrote of the impending demise of Thanet's print media and the Gazette especially. Are we starting to see this prediction come true?

Although Mr Williams no longer maintains a personal website (although he is active on twitter) his post of the eighth of August 2008 (08/08/08) still rings true for me. It was titled The Thanet Gazette: Will the last journalist to leave please turn out the lights.

In that post Mr Williams expressed his horror over the bungled handling of what should have been their biggest story in years. The story of a certain carrier bag of "lost papers" that suggested that Sandy Ezekiel (Council Leader at the time) and others had lied about expenses relating to the China Gateway planning proposal.

The story was broken on Thanet's blogs a good long time before the newspaper's were willing to print it. When they did they refused to put the story on their own website - it was only available in the print edition.

Journalism, Williams concluded, was alive and well in Thanet on a select few blogs (including Thanet Star). It was from this that a number of thinkers in the world of journalism suggested that blogging was the future of journalism in Thanet and that the Thanet star was a prime example of this.

Then Williams predicted the end of the Gazette and possibly print journalism in Thanet. Most people dismissed him as over-reacting. Now we see that the Thanet Gazette is due to be flogged off to Kent Messenger. Who is the sane one now I wonder?

It seems to me that blogging is more important than ever before but how can it gain the reach of the print papers or indeed should it?


The countervalue.com article and blog are no longer online but the story was located here.
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Is Thanet poorer for lack of news reporting diversity

Written by Matt B · first published 18/07/2011
Nationally there are moves afoot to ensure greater press diversity which is in stark contrast to Thanet Council's moves in completely the other direction.

According to the BBC (see link below) Mr Miliband has told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show that there is a need to look again in the round at the plurality rules to make sure there is proper plurality in the British press.

Of course in Thanet we do not exactly have a lot of papers all owned by one body unless you count KM Media which controls a lot of radio and newspaper output in the area. Certainly KM Media control more than 20% even if you count bloggers in that number. Meanwhile Mr Miliband has said I think that we've got to look at the situation whereby one person can own more than 20% of the newspaper market.

This raises an interesting question - is Thanet suffering for lack of sufficient news diversity?

BBC News - Hacking: Miliband and Clegg seek media ownership limits

Labour leader Ed Miliband and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg call for new media ownership rules to prevent individuals becoming too powerful.

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What do you think? Is Thanet poorer for lack of news reporting diversity?
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Even the seagulls don't care

Written by Matt B · first published 10/01/2011
Defiancesee more Very Demotivational
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There is a known bug with the Thanet Directory where the category links are not working. This is a fault with the URL parser / builder which doesn't cope well with custom language keys. I did not write it and I am working on a replacement. Everything else should be fully operational.
I've been adding new items to the Directory of Everything in Thanet. Keep the reviews and votes coming in and I'll keep adding items. Message me if you want something added that's not already there.
I've been working on this for a while and now here it is The Thanet Directory. It's a work in progress that you can add to.

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