Editor's Blog: Battle of Britain
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In today’s KM we’re proud to pay tribute to the brave men
famously described by Churchill as ‘The Few’ in his endlessly
quoted speech to MPs on August 20, 1940. We have a special
supplement marking the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain,
much of which was played out over Kentish skies between the RAF and
the Luftwaffe.
Much of our victory was, of course, down to the skill and
courage of our pilots, one of whom, Jimmy Corbin, still lives in
Maidstone and recalls his exploits in the supplement. But it was
also down to one of the greatest feats of engineering in aviation
and military history – the Spitfire. Just to show what an
unbelievable piece of machinery this was, an air show at the
weekend put on a ‘dual’ between RJ Mitchell’s invention and a
Tornado, and amazingly the former held its own for virtually the
entire display.
You don’t have to be a natural appreciator of military history
to enjoy the double-page poster of all the aircraft involved in the
Battle of Britain in today’s KM. Equally, you don’t have to have
been born before the war to appreciate the amazing human stories
told on the pages of our supplement.
An important meeting takes place tonight in the unlikely venue
of a house in Old Tovil Road. It is the home of Lib Dem group
leader on Maidstone council, Cllr Fran Wilson. It is an emergency
meeting called by members of the Maidstone hospital campaign group
MASH, which is campaigning against plans to move full maternity and
inpatient children’s services out of Maidstone to Pembury.
It is disappointing that the Independent Review Panel believes
the Rose Gibb’s plan should go ahead. Andrew Lansley has accepted
that view, which flies in the face of his stated aim to scrap
reconfiguration plans unless they put patients first. He’s now
imposed a two-month deadline for a final decision.
Maidstone still has an extremely strong case. Pembury’s great if
you live in Tonbridge or Tunbridge Wells, absolutely terrible if
you live in Maidstone. Not just terrible or a bit inconvenient, but
actually life-threatening. And don’t take our word for it, that’s
the view of an accident and emergency consultant at Maidstone
hospital.
If you are unlucky enough to be in the back of a blue light
ambulance you face an uncomfortable and long journey to Pembury. At
least the paramedics will have longer to work on you.
If you have an appointment at Pembury or are visiting a relative
you will be delighted to learn that a £300,000 plan to improve bus
services there have been axed as part of KCC cuts. If you plan to
drive, good luck on finding a parking space.
MASH has lots of ammunition, let’s hope they can make some
direct hits.
Friday, July 09 2010
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