Trawling for the facts?

It is just a guess, of course, but we think a frustrated motorist from Ashford might have been be behind a recent Freedom of Information request to Kent County Council. Why, went the plaintive request, “are KCC highway engineers incapable of getting a smooth flow of traffic through Ashford? Are they aware that the volume of traffic changes direction from morning to evening?”

It took Kent County Council nine days to come up with an official response, which might tell you something. As to what the authority said, we are on the case.

We are also intrigued by the person who lodged a Freedom of Information request to discover exactly what methodology trading standards officers used when it came to checking the water content of fish fingers.

There’s a joke there about trawling for information, but we won’t go there.

Oh dear. Politicians should really check their facts before delivering keynote speeches.

Labour’s immigration spokesman Chris Bryant had something of a car crash over his claims that some well known employers were recruiting staff from other countries ahead of the UK.

Not helped by identifying in a draft version of the speech a Tesco depot in Kent that does not actually exist. One does - but he meant Essex. as Canterbury, and the contribution of car traffic to climate change. The number of people feeling this way is more than you might think – about half of motorists have some of these concerns.

It seems to me that it is sensible for Canterbury to make it easy and

County education chiefs have applied the brakes to its plan to award a new contract for the 11-plus exam for three years. Instead, it is offering a one-year option, with the possibility it could be extended for another year.

Why? Between the lines, it looks like the desire to come up with a lesscoachable test has taken second place to concerns that Kent is on the brink of seeing a number of grammars who have become academies resorting to setting and doing their own tests.

This is not something Kent County Council necessarily wants but it is having to adjust to a world in which its efforts to broker arrangements - particularly on admissions - between Kent schools are increasingly difficult and more challenging as schools strike out on their own.

Cycling groups have called on Kent County Council to do more to champion the cause of two-wheeled travellers, saying it is disappointing the county did not feature in a rather generous £150 million government handout to make cycling safer and easier.

Just to rub salt in, the government announced it was to explore a cycling route along the route of High Speed Two, the rail link through the north.

A shame it didn’t think of that for High Speed One.

FOLLOW Paul on Twitter @ PaulOnPolitics attractive for these many publicspirited people to leave their cars at home, at least for some trips. By doing that, the city will be a nicer place for everyone. Lynn Sloman, Transport for Quality of Life, Machynlleth, Wales