Kent Tonight - Wednesday 11th September 2024
Catch up with all the latest news across your county with Mahima Abedin.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Kentonite live on KMTV, I'm Mahima Abedin and here are your
00:30top stories on Wednesday the 11th of September. Water failure closes schools
00:35for thousands again in Luce, but who's to blame? One parent told us that his
00:41child's taxi driver called them saying the school has been closed only a few
00:45minutes before they were due to leave. Look what you made me do. Will Taylor
00:49Swift's endorsement of Kamala Harris make others vote for her? The most
00:53important thing is to listen to what the candidate has to say and read their
00:57manifesto and make your own mind up. And rev your engines, Tunbridge car club
01:02raises money for charity. It's been a success, we're very happy with it, that's the
01:06prototype of this car.
01:16First tonight, thousands of children have been at home after three Maidstone
01:21schools were suddenly shut this morning. South East Water told New Line Learning
01:27Tiger Primary School and SEND provision Five Acre Wood that they would have no
01:32running water. Parents are furious as this has happened multiple times in the
01:37last two years at the site. Finn McDermott has been finding out. Due to
01:42power issues at several schools in the Future Schools Trust in Maidstone,
01:46schools like Tiger Primary, New Line Academy and Five Acre Wood were forced
01:51to close this morning out of health and safety concerns. The power outage
01:55interrupted the water supply, meaning that the site had no running water. Well
02:01it was about quarter past eight this morning when parents got the news. One
02:05parent told us that his child's taxi driver called them saying the school had
02:09been closed only a few minutes before they were due to leave. Well across the
02:13county, but especially here in Maidstone, plenty of children would have turned up
02:17to the school only to be told of the closure. Well earlier we received this
02:21statement from South Eastern Water. We're sorry to customers in the loose
02:25area who experienced no water or low pressure this morning. A technical issue
02:30at our water treatment works resulted in a loss of supply to around 1,000 homes
02:35for just under three hours this morning. This issue has now been resolved and all
02:39customers should have their water supply returned. It's likely that parents had to
02:43change plans and delay going into work because of the issue. We tried to contact
02:47them but they were busy, likely working or sorting out childcare. One of the
02:52schools, Five Acre Wood, is a SEND provision school which provides
02:56education to disabled students and is maintained by the local authority. We
03:01tried to reach out for an interview or comment from Kent County Council but
03:04they declined, saying they were aware of the closure but it was the individual
03:08school's choice to close and that we should instead contact South East Water.
03:13While Kent County Council declined to comment, Helen Grant, MP for
03:17Maidstone and Molling, said this in a statement.
03:42According to parents, the issue with the water is a recurring one and in a letter
03:52sent to them, Five Acre Wood schools said that they were exploring a water
03:55contingency plan that would allow them to operate independently if the issue
03:59occurred again. They added, however, this would not be a quick process and will
04:04require substantial capital investment. The interruption has now been fixed and
04:09Five Acre Woods was reopened earlier today. Finn MacDermid for KMTV in
04:13Maidstone. A woman from Tunbridge says she's living in fear after she was told
04:20her ex-partner is to be released early from prison. In a Kent Online exclusive,
04:26Natasha Brine told reporters that her ex, who's called Jack Poor, will be out
04:30next week thanks to the government's scheme to free up space. Poor was sent to
04:35prison for threatening to kill her on several occasions. Miss Brine was shocked
04:40to hear that he would be let out, given officials said domestic abuse offenders
04:44wouldn't be let out as part of the initiative. He's also breached two
04:49previous restraining orders connected to the case. This morning, the nominees for
04:57the US presidential election race took part in their first televised debate and
05:01it's got Kent talking. Not only that, but megastar Taylor Swift spoke out on
05:07Instagram to endorse the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. But how much of
05:12an impact do the views of super celebs have on the way the general public votes?
05:17Kristen Hawthorne went down to Rochester to find out. In the early hours of this
05:22morning, a US debate was held between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Around a
05:27month ago, Donald Trump shared deep fake AI pictures of Taylor Swift endorsing
05:32him, but following this recent debate, she came out on Instagram to set the
05:36record straight. Taylor Swift mentioned that she noticed these fake videos and
05:40the spread of misinformation, stating that she felt that she needed to be
05:43transparent and share her real views. The question is, would a celebrity
05:49endorsement of a politician make a difference to people and their decisions
05:52to vote here in Kent? Or do people think that their opinion should be based on
05:56their own views and values?
05:58I think that particularly we should have our own viewpoint, formed from our own lifestyle and our own experiences in life.
06:08I think we make our minds up on lots of different things, so perhaps endorsements
06:13might add to it a bit, but they're not the most important thing. The most
06:17important thing is to listen to what the candidate has to say and read their
06:20manifesto and make your own mind up.
06:22Yeah, definitely. I think people shouldn't pay too much attention to celebrity
06:28culture. It's all a bit exaggerated and they should make their own reasoned
06:33decisions by reading the news and cluing themselves up on everything.
06:38No, I don't think I could. It's something completely different with politics and
06:42celebrities. I don't think those two can be combined. I spoke to councillor
06:46Theresa Murray to get her viewpoint on celebrity endorsements and whether she
06:50believes if it is valuable to an election.
06:53Because actually, particularly younger women, are one of the groups least
06:56likely to vote in any democracy. So the fact that Taylor Swift appeals to
07:02younger women and she's saying that voting is important and that they ought
07:06to support Kamala Harris, I don't think it's harmful. Hopefully it opens
07:10people's minds and gets them thinking. Bringing people along with you and
07:15sharing views and ideas in all the different forums that are open to us
07:19these days, I think is a good thing and I welcome it. And if Taylor Swift
07:23wants to endorse the Labour Party, I'd be delighted.
07:27So some celebrity endorsements can be powerful, especially while stars are
07:31trending in the media. While some can be persuaded by a famous face, others
07:35prefer to stick to views made without any influences. The presidential race
07:40will continue until the 5th of November when one of these two will take the top
07:44spot through voting. Kristen Hawthorne for KMTV.
07:50Well, believe it or not, people in Kent clearly seem to be keeping a keen eye
07:54on the political situation in the United States and are interested in the
07:58opinions of famous faces. Well, today's an important moment in American
08:02history for another reason too. It's been 23 years since the infamous 9-11
08:09attacks in New York. And these huge historical events have a ripple effect
08:13on us all the way in Kent. Something I discussed with lecturer Dr Rubrik
08:18Biegun earlier today. He specialises in international relations at the
08:22University of Kent. Rubrik, the first debate of this year's US presidential
08:27election has just taken place. So for those who haven't been following the
08:31election so closely, how important are these debates to the election process?
08:37Well, the conventional wisdom in American politics is that these kinds of
08:41presidential debates don't determine the outcome of an election, but they
08:45certainly do matter, particularly at the margins. As we saw earlier this
08:50summer in the debate between President Joe Biden and former President Trump,
08:56Biden's poor performance during that debate really started a series of events
09:01that led him to withdraw from the presidential contest this time around. So
09:07we know that these kinds of debates do matter, but they generally don't turn an
09:12election one way or another just on their own.
09:15There's been a lot of talk about it being the difference between policy or
09:19about the candidates' characters. So how do you think they came across in last
09:23night's debate on those issues?
09:25Right. Yeah. I mean, it seems that Harris probably got the better of the debate.
09:31She had more to lose. Trump has participated in a number of these debates
09:37over the course of his career. He's run for president now three times. So he's
09:41been in these presidential debates before. Harris has not. This is her first
09:45presidential debate. So she had more to prove, and I think she had more to lose.
09:50And I think she performed fairly well. The polling that we have coming out of the
09:54U.S. suggests that most viewers thought she'd won the debate. The betting markets
09:58moved in her favor. And a lot of the media narratives that are coming out of the
10:03debate suggest that she probably helped herself more than Trump helped himself.
10:07But of course, it remains to be seen what this means for November.
10:11We have debates in our election here in the U.K., but it's a relatively new thing.
10:16Do a lot of people in America watch these debates compared to here in the U.K.,
10:20because only a small percentage of the general public do?
10:24Yes, I don't know the specific numbers. I think these are one of the most watched
10:29television events in the U.S. typically. And I think the viewership that you get for
10:33the debates is more varied. You'll get independent voters watching as well as
10:39those who are already supporting the two candidates. So you get a more diverse viewership.
10:45And certainly, this being the only debate scheduled at the moment between Trump and Harris,
10:50I'm guessing that when we have a sense of the figures from the debate last night,
10:54that they'll be relatively high. It's the 11th of September today,
10:57so we should mark that it's been 23 years since the terrorist attack in New York on the World
11:02Trade Center. How much does that affect people in the U.S. today?
11:06This is an issue that's proven to have quite a bit of staying power for the American electorate.
11:11And this is, I think, we get a good sense of this around this time of year when there'll be a lot
11:17of memorials and kind of looking back at the 9-11 attacks from 2001 and the kind of legacy of these
11:23attacks. Now it's time for a short break,
11:27but coming up, we'll be joined by our politics producer, Oliver Leader de Sacks, and KMTV's
11:32health expert, Julian Spinks, as we discuss the latest winter fuel payment cuts, which Kent MP
11:38says will affect many in the county. And we'll hear about all things trending in Kent as Elisa
11:44Paré fills us in on what's got people talking on social media. See you soon in just a few minutes
11:50after the break.
14:50Hello, and welcome back to Kentonite live on KMTV. Now, a town centre building branded an
15:20eyesore by locals in Folkestone set to be turned into apartments. Queen's houses been boarded up
15:26for a year but could be turned into 27 new homes. The new owner is William Brown, the father of
15:33seven-year-old William Jr, who tragically died after being hit by a car in December last year.
15:39The entrepreneur says the development will be called Master William's Place in memory of his
15:44little boy. As part of the purchase, it's been agreed the scaffolding will be removed within
15:49the next seven months, meaning the purple boarding will come down too. A Kent MP has said
15:57the government's winter fuel allowance cuts will hurt people in the county. It comes as a
16:02Conservative motion to prevent Labour's plans were defeated yesterday. Fifty-three Labour MPs had no
16:09vote recorded in the House of Commons, including Gillingham and Reynolds, Nashaba Khan and
16:14Canterbury's Rosie Duffield. Our politics producer Oliver Leader de Sacks and KMTV's health expert
16:20Dr Julian Spinks join me in the studio now. So Oliver, just for context, can you tell us what
16:26was this vote for and how did it go down? So the winter fuel allowance is a scheme that means that
16:31basically everyone over a certain age who is a pensioner will get a certain amount of money each
16:37year for their fuel. The government are cutting back on it amidst what they say is major economic
16:42concerns and savings that have to be made. The Conservatives yesterday put a motion to try and
16:48block those cuts and that was defeated quite comfortably by about 120 votes. But the Labour
16:56MPs, about 52 of them abstained on this, including Canterbury's Rosie Duffield and Gillingham,
17:03Reynolds and Nashaba Khan, who we don't know if she abstained or she was given permission to leave.
17:08We're currently uncertain on that but it's clear that it's been quite divisive policy the
17:12Conservatives say it's going to mean people fall through the cracks who may have a certain amount
17:17of money but will no longer get the fuel allowance. One of those MPs is actually Sir Roger
17:23Gale who agrees that winter fuel payments should be means tested but the way it's being done is
17:28actually quite cruel. Those are his words. Let's hear a clip from him now. Susie, my wife, who is
17:35over retirement age but full-time job and a higher rate taxpayer, and I, who am in a full-time
17:41job and a higher rate taxpayer, receive winter fuel payment. That is ridiculous. We don't need
17:47it and we shouldn't get it. We give it to charity. But wouldn't it be much better if young disabled
17:53people, for example, who can't run around and keep warm received some form of help with their
17:58heating bills. I'm all in favour of the means testing. What is wrong is the crass, cruel way
18:07in which Rachel Reeves and Prime Minister Starmer have gone about this and it is going to hurt
18:14people. And Dr Spinks, we just heard there that this could hurt pensioners as well. So
18:21what is the reality of that health-wise? Well, getting cold is not good for you and so if you're
18:28in a house that's cold and damp, you're more likely to get things like chest infections. It
18:32puts a strain on your heart and at the extreme end of it, if your body temperature starts to drop,
18:37you get hypothermia. That is life-threatening. People end up in hospital. It results in a lot
18:43of costs to the NHS and some people very sadly pass away. So Oliver, we just heard there from
18:49Dr Spinks that this could be life-threatening and has the government responded to that? Well,
18:53the government say it's a necessary decision they have to make because there's a £22 billion
18:58black hole in their own words and they need to make savings where they can. And actually this
19:03morning in Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, hit back at the
19:10Conservative former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and explained some of the decision-making behind
19:16why they made the cut. Mr Speaker, we're taking this decision to stabilise the economy.
19:23That means we can commit to the triple lock. By committing to the triple lock, we can make sure
19:29that payments of state pension are higher and therefore there's more money in the pocket of
19:33pensioners, notwithstanding the tough action that we need to take. But he goes around pretending
19:39that everything's fine. That's the argument he tried in the election and that's why he's sitting
19:45there and we are sitting here. And Dr Spinks, you mentioned earlier hypothermia. So what can
19:51pensioners do to stay warm this winter? Well, one of the things they can look at is making sure
19:56that at least one of the rooms in their house is warm. They can put layers of clothing on.
20:02But the big problem is if you don't have the money to heat your house, it is going to be difficult.
20:06Other things is looking at space heaters and things rather than putting central heating on.
20:11Thank you, Dr Spinks. Now it's time to take a quick look at the weather.
20:23Tonight, it's clear skies and cool temperatures across the county with highs of nine and a low
20:28of eight down in Tunbridge Wells. Tomorrow morning is slightly warmer with cloudy skies,
20:3212 degrees in Dartford and Chatham areas. Tomorrow afternoon, it's still sun and clouds
20:38as temperatures rise to 15 degrees in Dover and in Ashford. And for the days ahead,
20:43sunshine and clouds this weekend with temperatures of 16 to 19.
21:01More than 50 supercars were on display outside Tunbridge Castle at the weekend and it was all
21:07for charity. From Ferraris to Aston Martins, the public were invited to go down and see some of
21:13these dream machines. The display was organised by the Mason Foundation who are raising money
21:19to support young people with special educational needs trying to find employment. Henry Luck has
21:25more. For supercar enthusiasts, there's nothing more satisfying than hearing the roar of an engine.
21:36But for the Mason Foundation here in Tunbridge, there's nothing more satisfying than giving back
21:42to young people with special educational needs. So today was the first charity supercar rally that
21:50was held for the benefit of the Mason Foundation. The Mason Foundation is a charity founded by local
21:57businessman Stephen Mason and our aim as an organisation is to reduce inequalities and
22:04support communities and individuals to live healthier, happier and more fulfilled lives.
22:09The Mason Foundation hosted their first supercar and bike showcase to raise money for their Propel
22:15service which aims to help businesses develop a working environment where young employees with
22:22mental disabilities can thrive. One of their main goals is to help employers fill the gap in entry
22:28level jobs from providing work opportunities to teaching businesses how to accommodate disabled
22:35workers. What they can do is come and talk to us. So here at the Mason Foundation delivering Propel, we can work with small organisations
22:44SMEs or grant funding programmes and we can sort of support them to go on that journey to
22:50inclusive employment opportunities. We'd also really recommend any businesses to
22:55the Disability Confidence Scheme, the Government Disability Confidence Scheme and align themselves to that which provides you some great
23:01checklists and starting points for becoming a Disability Confident Employer. Despite getting
23:06unlucky with the weather, the Mason Foundation made sure Tunbridge Castle matched the likes
23:13of Silverstone. It's a really good crowd, lots of people, very chatty and interested to hear
23:20about the cars. I've really enjoyed it. This is our first rally so it's been well worth it. The Mason
23:26Foundation are already moving up a gear for next year's showcase. This was a prototype for next
23:33year. Next year will be a much much bigger event and the idea was to get 100 committed supercar
23:40drivers. We've had 70 today which was great. They'll form the backbone of next year. It'll be a lot bigger
23:46and I'm pleased to say that everybody's interacted like I wanted them to do.
23:51They are learning from each other which is good. So apart from the weather, I couldn't
23:55think much about that. I did try but it's been a success. We're very happy with it
24:00as the prototype as well. Henry Luck for KMTV in Tunbridge.
24:05And finally it's time for an insight into all things trending on social media here in the
24:11county. From Kent Connections in the famous Race Across the World series to an X Factor superstar,
24:18from Gravesend releasing their debut album, plenty of interesting things have been happening online
24:24and across the county. I was joined by Lisa Paré earlier today to find out more about some of Kent's
24:31social media hits. So Elise, what's got people talking online? Well tonight episode Celebrity Race
24:38Across the World continues as the pairs are very close to the finish line. In the penultimate
24:43episode the celebrities and their partners have just four days and limited budget to travel from
24:47Tigray to a 10,000 year old mountain town of Takara and Rochester's own Kelly Brooke and her
24:52husband are second place in tonight's episode. Kelly Brooke is a model, she's an actress, she's
24:56appeared in several tv shows and films. Her husband Jeremy is a judo champion and a model. They got married in 2022 after an eight-year relationship and for Kelly and Jeremy said that this was just another adventure they could go on because they love traveling so much and Jeremy said that they don't have this experience every day so this is the right thing to do at the moment.
25:15Well that sounds very exciting and the race isn't the only thing that's got people talking.
25:19I hear there's a new album coming from one of Kent's very own. Can you tell us about that?
25:24Sydney Christmas, who won Britain's Got Talent earlier this year, is coming out with her own debut album My Way this autumn. The singer grew up in Gravesham and she auditioned for Britain's Got Talent and won. She dazzled the judges with her bubbly personality, her amazing vocals. She sailed through the semi-final with her own version of Frank Sinatra's My Way, probably why she called this album My Way as well.
25:46Ever since she's won she's been quite busy working on her album which would include new recordings of the songs that Wild and the audience is on the show and along with a number of other covers. She also has a tour coming up soon in Glasgow and Liverpool and London and her debut album is coming out on the 4th October and her headline tour kicks off in February as well.
26:04Amazing, thank you so much Elise.
26:07You've been watching Kent Tonight live on KMTV. There's more news made just for Kent throughout the evening and don't forget you can always keep up to date with the latest news across your county by logging on to kmtv.co.uk.
26:23You can keep us on your social timelines by liking us on Facebook and following us on X.
26:29And if you think you have a story and if you have a story you think we should be covering then get in touch. We also have a series of special programmes in Victor's Sport, Made in Kent, Kent on Climber and more on the website.
26:42But that's it from Kent Tonight here at KMTV. We hope you have a lovely evening and we'll see you soon.