I agree there is no need to be smug but at least be a realist.
Southend is a little fish on the coast doing its own thing. The 2 airports are not even rivals as far as I am concerned. They may have the capacity but they could never steal 1 million pax from LTN. They couldn't even get the little Stobart wet dream failure flights they moved from LTN to work with everything in their favour. Let them get on with their stuff and good luck to them. The 2 airports are not even comparable.