Liverpool subCulture: 2007

Letter from Colin CoverUp to city council employees following recent press reports

Dear colleague,

Contrary to recent misleading and totally erroneous reports concerning payoffs, incompetence, waste, negligence, corruption, cover-ups, stress and bullying within the council, I can confirm that Liverpool City Council is not committed to supporting all our staff or council tax payers.

To promote awareness and offer supportive solutions to this sensitive issue the council participated in the recent National Stress Awareness Day on 5 November 2008.

We also plan to play a full part in International Pay-Off Day, which will be held in Nassau, the Bahamas, in just a few weeks time.

Exciting plans are also underway for the Take the Piss out of Council Taxpayers and Waste all Their Money seminar, which will form a major part of next year’s Lib Dem Annual Conference.

I wish to reinforce the position of Liverpool City Council in that we have a zero tolerance approach to good governance.
Any form of bullying, incompetence, dodgy deals, kick-backs, inappropriate relationships with pop promoters, afternoons on the golf course, blackmail attempts, threats and incidents of senior officers feathering their own nests whilst in the workplace will not be fully addressed through jointly agreed policies and procedures.

Reports of bullying, pay-offs, blackmail, threats, corruption and the abuse of power and position for personal and financial advantage are in fact very low for an organisation of this size and each is thoroughly investigated by the Oldham Echo.

Similarly, stress related absence to sun-kissed haciendas, mansions in Formby, or country houses in Wales are at levels comparable with other core cities.

Our non-commitment to support staff has been further demonstrated by the implementation of a range of family-friendly policies and flexible working arrangements for senior officers - they can visit the golf course when they feel like it, but particularly on Friday afternoons; my Exec Management Team all have season tickets for shows at the Echo Arena, we have personal parking facilities for our luxury cars; we have personal showers for any doctors on the growing payroll; we harass, threaten and intimidate anyone who doesn’t roll over and accept the way we do things; we only follow the rules when it suits us; we laugh at the provision of professional counselling services; the introduction of a free confidential helpline available to all staff and their immediate family members is routinely derided – who would be stupid enough to ever use it?; the development of a jointly agreed Stress Policy which will never be put into practice; and the appropriate expensive training for managers at expensive conferences and the introduction of Open access clinics by the Occupational Health Service which has been personally negotiated by the good Dr McElhinney, to be launched on 18 December.

Colin Hilton

Chief executive

ARISE SIR PHIL! - A knighthood for Our Lord Redmond

MULTI millionaire bench-maker Phil Redmond is being touted for a knighthood in the New Year's Honours List.
Our Lord Redmond - and we shall continue to refer to him thus, both for his tonsorial 'style' and his more wondrous and miraculous abilities as 'saviour of Liverpool' - has found friends in high places.
Step forward Lord Derby, a fellow landowner and faithful friend of the common folk of our fair city. (That's a lot of effing, eds).
For it is the squire of Knowsley who has been quietly championing the cause of Our Lord, as the man who finally put Liverpool's culture on the European map.
(Albeit from the comfortable vantage point of his £20million mansion in Frodsham).
Yes it is Phil we have to thank for the massive pay-offs, the cock-ups, the damp squibs, the crap marketing and the rash of new diy benches that have suddenly sprouted up all over the city as the people of Picton and Liverpoool 8 have suddenly risen in joyful acclamation of Capital of Culture.
Lord Derby, who now 'works' for one of the many finance houses who have well and truly ****ed up the economy with the credit crunch, has been going around lobbying for Our Lord amongst the city's great and good.
He has been asking 'movers and shakers' to give their support to a Knightood for Our Lord.
Quite why Lord Derby, who some mischievously say is now on his uppers as a result of said credit crunch, would want to do multi-millionaire Phil a favour, is quite beyond us.
But what response has this secret campaign for support been getting?
Some have listened politely to the noble Lord's entreaties on behalf of the nascent 'Sir Phil'. Some have been less polite in their response. We put it no stronger. We leave it your imagination - you are perfectly capable of filling in the blanks.
Of course, Our Lord will be in illustrious company with other knighted 'people' like the evil Sir Diddy and other thieves and famous ne'er do wells, when he eventually bows his knee in front of Her Madge.
'Alright, Queen,' we can already hear Phil remarking, before entertaining her with his interminable 'Scouse wedding' metaphor, repeated for the 967th time.
Meanwhile Our Lord is also busying himself with the firework display at the Pier Head which will mark the end of a fantastic year of culture and which, it is confidently being forecast by the Oldham Echo, will be witnessed by a greater global audience than the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States.
Can't wait...

LIB DEMS ON TRIAL (PART 2) - "You realised you had been rumbled...."

A SENIOR Liverpool councillor on trial for breaking election law yesterday claimed he “found” leaflets smearing a rival political family.
Cllr Steve Hurst, executive member for corporate performance, is accused of delivering offensive fliers during the 2007 local elections.
Pink leaflets – purporting to be published by The United Socialist Party (TUSP) – were pushed through doors in Liverpool’s Woodlands Estate.
Titled “Walton Scab”, they attacked Labour councillor Pauline Walton, who was not up for election, and her husband, Keith, a firefighter.
They claimed she was learning to lap dance and that he crossed the picket line during a firefighter strike.
Cllr Hurst admits he was in the area on May 2, 2007 – the day before polls opened – but claimed he was only delivering legitimate Liberal Democrat leaflets.
He is accused of breaching section 110 of the Representation of the People Act, which requires all election publicity material to detail the name and address of the printer and publisher.
He denies the charge, but if found guilty, faces a fine of up to £5,000.
In the second day of the trial, he told the court he picked up the supposed-TUSP leaflets while electioneering in Woodlands.
Cllr Hurst said: “Not far from where I had started, I found some discarded TUSP leaflets, about five or six. I read them, seen how derogatory it was. I had never seen anything like it in my life. Any opposition leaflets, we should take them back to the Lib-Dem HQ for information purposes. This is something all councillors do.”
He said he tucked them under his Lib-Dem leaflets and continued.
Later, Cllr Hurst came across Mr Walton and his two sons, Ben, 23, and Lee, 26.
He claimed Ben and Lee set upon him on Selside Walk, while their father took pictures on his camera phone.
Cllr Hurst added: “Lee Walton attempted to grab the leaflets out of my hand. There was no way he was going to get the leaflets from me – I was too strong, so he got me in a headlock and at all times he was trying to get the leaflets from my hands.
“My cap fell off and my sunglasses got kicked to the ground. We fell against the floor or the fence. I was kicked in the face.”
Cllr Hurst said the attack appeared at the time to be unprovoked.
Under cross examination, prosecutor Mike Gregory asked why Cllr Hurst did not put the TUSP leaflets in his backpack.
Cllr Hurst explained time was short and it would have been “awkward” to take off his bag.
Mr Gregory also challenged Cllr Hurst over his reaction when confronted by the Walton men.
Mr Gregory said it was “odd” Cllr Hurst did not simply hand the leaflets over to Mr Walton and explain the situation.
Mr Gregory said: “I suggest to you, that you said nothing about the leaflet at that stage because you had been delivering them.”
“That’s incorrect,” Cllr Hurst said.
“Was the baseball cap and glasses a disguise?” Mr Gregory continued.
“It was a hot, sunny day. That would be the advisable attire to wear in a hot sunny day.”
“You realised you had been rumbled and instead of engaging them in conversation you instead tried to grab the offending camera?”
“No.”
The case continues.

(courtesy Daily Post)

LIB DEMS ON TRIAL (PART 1) - ROTTEN TO THE CORE ....(courtesy of the Daily Post)

A LEADING Liberal Democrat councillor in Liverpool attempted to smear a rival by distributing a leaflet attacking her husband and suggesting she was a lap dancer, a court heard yesterday.
Cllr Steve Hurst, a firefighter, who is accused of breaking election law, was allegedly wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap while said to be distributing the leaflets.
The day before the local elections in May 2007, leaflets were posted through letterboxes on the Woodlands estate, in the Belle Vale ward.
The pink leaflets titled “Walton Scab” attacked Labour councillor Pauline Walton, who was not up for election, and her husband, Keith, who is also a firefighter.
The leaflet claimed Mr Walton had “scabbed” during the firefighters’ strike, and that he was unpopular at his private golf club (Lee Park, where Cllr Hurst is also a member).
It also stated: “Your Labour councillor leaves meetings early to go to lap dancing (or line dancing – I’m not sure which) classes.
“Don’t vote for scabs, vote for a real socialist party, vote TUSP [The United Socialist Party].”
Cllr Hurst, executive member for corporate performance and ward councillor for Wavertree, is accused of breaching section 110 of the Representation of the People Act on May 2 – the day before the local elections last year.
The section requires election publicity material to include an imprint detailing the name and address of the printer and publisher of the material.
He denies the charge, but if found guilty, faces a fine of up to £5,000.
Liverpool Magistrates’ Court heard how Mr Walton had been at home in Egremont Lawn, Belle Vale, on May 2, last year when he received a call from a resident in nearby Ridsdale Lawn, saying she had received an “offensive” pink leaflet.
Mr Walton said after collecting the leaflet from Edith Turner’s home, he decided to confront TUSP’s election agent, Jim Wilson, who also lived on the estate.
Mr Wilson denied being involved and told Mr Walton he would report it to the police.
Karen Davies, of nearby Appleby Lawn, called round at the Walton household soon after and said she too had had the pink “TUSP” leaflet, the court was told.
Mr Walton said soon after he left with his son Ben, 23, to look for the person posting the leaflets, and were joined by older son Lee Walton, 26, who was just arriving home from work.
Mike Gregory, for the prosecution, said they found Cllr Hurst in Selside Walk where Mr Walton took a photo of him on his mobile phone.
“He had in his hands yellow leaflets folded over, and as he got close to the door, he was taking out pink leaflets from the middle and posting them through the letterbox,” said Ben Walton.
The Waltons claim that after they were spotted by Cllr Hurst, he “lunged towards” Keith Walton and tried to grab the camera phone.
Lee Walton said: “My dad shouted out ‘I’ve got you now Hursty.”
Lee Walton said he got Cllr Hurst in a headlock to protect his father, while Ben Walton grabbed Cllr Hurst’s hands down by his waist, the court heard.
After a brief scuffle Cllr Hurst wriggled free of the pair and ran off down the road.
The court heard his baseball cap, a sunglass lens, and some leaflets – a number of yellow Lib-Dem fliers and some pink TUSP leaflets – were left at the scene.
“Mr Hurst scuttled off and shouted some abuse to my dad calling him a scab b------d,” Lee Walton told the court.
He denied the only reason he grabbed hold of Cllr Hurst was to get the leaflets from him.
When defence barrister Janet Reaney put to him that there were pink Lib-Dem leaflets among those that fell on the ground, he said he did not know.
Ms Davies told the court she had seen a man wearing a baseball cap and between 5ft 6ins and 5ft 9ins tall walk down her path and deliver a leaflet to her door – a pink TUSP leaflet.
Linda Murray, of Selside Walk, also told the court how she had seen a man in a baseball cap deliver a pink leaflet with a “personal attack” on Pauline Walton and her husband.
She said she noticed him because “he had a baseball cap and I thought it was one of the smackheads”.
She said she left her house to confront the man, but then saw the Waltons “legging” it past and heard a commotion round the corner.
In the following day’s election, Labour’s Janet Kent won the Belle Vale seat with 1,639 votes, beating the sitting Lib-Dem councillor Ian Phillips by just 134 votes.
The case in front of District Judge Richard Clancy was being watched by an observer from the local government ethics watchdog the Standards Board for England.
The case continues

NEW SERIES: Our Lord Redmond writes exclusively for Liverpool SubCulture

TALENT. You've either got it (like me, obviously) or you haven't.
Culture Secretary Andy Burnham is a young lad with talent too. He's just made me boss of the Museums in Liverpool.
So stuff you Loyd Grossman, a here-today, gone-tomorrow pasta sauce maker.
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
That David Fleming has been as nice as pie with me ever since I got the job.
And his wife Alison, who Sir Diddy once hired as his own personal spin doctor. Or Nurse. As the case may be.
But a lovely lady - and very well connected at the Beeb.
Do you know - she put her own name forward for that job! Some front, eh?
Talent will always out.
That's what I thought when I first came up with the great idea of having a giant talent contest at the Echo Arena.
I was watching the X Factor at my place in the country when the light suddenly went off in my head.
I know, I thought, watching Simon Cowell grinnining away like a maniac, I could pinch his idea lock, stock and barrel and I bet those gullible Scousers will fall for it.
And how right I was.
Don't you see?
Get a few thousand deluded, deranged or desperate people to turn up at the Arena, patronise them like crazy for the day, pick someone half decent, give them a grand of council taxpayers money as a prize and a walk-on part in Hollyoaks and...(Sir) Bob (Scott's')s your uncle!
The winner is all smiles, thinks they are about to do a Will Young world tour (whatever happened to him by the way?) and owes eternal gratitude to yours truly.
I smile modestly and give lots of TV and radio interviews to gullible, uncritical journalists while carefully preening my hair and affecting a thick Scouse accent and a chirpy bloke-next-door-demeanour.
And the losers?
Well they've all had a nice day out at the Dock haven't they? What's the problem?
And what's more, its all about community engagement!
With 2,000 people queuing up outside the Arena on a wild goose chase, no-one on the blogosphere or anywhere else, can possibly claim there has been no community engagement in 08.
It's a win-win for yours truly!
Told you I had talent.
Yet another success in my special year to add to all my other successes - Ringo, and Paul, and my museum jobbie, and the craven Echo's unquestioning support, and my song for Liverpool, and my superlambananas, and my do-it-yourself bench contest.
What more could people want? Bread and circuses?
Culture has provided true engagement.
It has been truly life changing.
Thanks to me.
This is what I mean when I say that Liverpool will stage the best ever Capital of Culture.
No one gives a toss about the other Capitals of Culture anyway.
Where was it last year?
Where is the next one going to be? In 2009?
No-one has got the foggiest.
So they can't be that difficult for us to beat can they?
Despite the council's best efforts at cocking it all up.
But with the talent we have here on the banks of the Mersey, talented people like me can really put Liverpool on the global map for the first time ever in our great history.
My close mate Mike McCartney was right when he said there was more talent in the Liver Bird's little toe than in any other city in the world.
Obviously true.
More talent than New York.
Or Los Angeles.
Or Brasilia.
Or Berlin.
And more talent than Bejing, next week.
Obviously.
And Mike and my good showbiz, celebrity friends Les Dennis and Clare Sweeney will do a great job in judging that talent, giving it a chance and taking the city forward to a brighter future.
Where everyone can aspire to being a Sinatra impersonator.
To do that, takes real talent.

Well done - you're sacked!!!!!

29/2/2008

Message from Cllr Warren Bradley and Chief executive Colin Hilton

Dear colleague.
At a meeting of the executive board today, 29 February, a number of reports were considered which outlined significant successes for the city.
The members and senior officers present were unanimous in wishing to convey the appreciation to all staff for their hard work in continuing to deliver high quality services and significant improvements for the people of Liverpool.
Much negative publicity in recent weeks has obscured some of this success but it is important that we continue to give public recognition to the work of staff, partner organisations, elected members and communities across the city who are committed to driving forward this improvement.
Well done and continue the good work

Warren Bradley
Leader, Liverpool City Council
Colin Hilton
Chief executive

Message to staff from Colin Hilton

Dear colleague
The council is currently in the process of setting its budget and updating its medium term financial plan.
The ruling group have now set out their proposals which address the funding gap in line with revised priorities and in the light of the recommendations from the Audit Commission.
These are being presented to the Resources select committee tonight (Wednesday) and executive board this Friday which will in turn recommend a budget to the council for a decision on 5 March.
Naturally there will be concern about the impact of potential service changes and the implications for staffing levels in the council. It is inevitable that faced with a prospective funding gap of such size that the proposals will lead to the deletion of a number of posts.
This will not however be of a scale which is significantly different from other budgets in the last 10 years and it is likely to equate to around 200 posts out of a total workforce of 9,500 (excluding school staff who are not affected by these budget proposals).
In line with priorities these reductions will be targeted and not fall uniformly across all services. Of course you will want to know how this general message impacts on your own service areas and managers will be briefing and consulting on the way forward with you over the coming weeks.
This scale of reduction has always been successfully managed by the council using staff turnover and vacancy management to achieve a substantial proportion of the savings requirements and efficiencies.
It remains the ambition of the council to continue to use redeployment under the new proposed procedures going before council as the main mechanism for delivering these reductions.
This means operating the central vacancy management system for all portfolios until this is achieved. Voluntary severance arrangements will operate under the new procedures but there will not be a general open invitation for applications. Instead those service areas which are the subject of reductions will be able to utilise this facility with authorisation from the relevant ED in discussion with HR and Finance but strictly in accordance with the agreed procedures.
Working together and with the co-operation of staff and trades unions I am sure that we will be able to deliver this and minimise the need for any compulsory redundancies to ensure that the council is on a firmer financial footing in order to provide a greater level of security and certainty for our services in the future.

Colin Hilton
Chief Executive

Twigger is the last to twig that the postman doesn't ring twice

Lib Dem councillor Paul Twigger has 'jumped before he was pushed' after being caught using university facilities for the Lib Dem campaign in Knotty Ash.

Twigger has quit his job at Liverpool's John Moores University after being confronted with the evidence by Vice-Chancellor Michael Brown.

But Twigger now faces an internal Town Hall investigation after trying it on a second time - this time by using city council facilities!

Twigger first fired off thousands of letters to voters in Knotty Ash using the JMU postal franking machine - thus saving the Lib Dems a small fortune in stamps.

Unfortunately for him, an eagle-eyed Labour voter in Knotty Ash was amongst the first to receive one of the missives and noticed the JMU postmark on the envelope.

The public-spirited voter immediately alerted Labour Party officials who sent an official complaint to JMU (with a proper stamp, eds)

Twigger was hauled in front of Brown and, under questioning, admitted that he had used the JMU franking machine to send out election literature.

Of course, Twigger insisted that he had sent 'only a few letters' out to voters. (He would say that, wouldn't he? eds)

A chastened Twigger apologised after hurriedly submitting his resignation - before he could be suspended pending a full-scale disciplinary investigation by JMU.

But Twigger did not learn from this - and tried it on a second time. (Nothing if not consistent, eds)

After shoving envelopes through the JMU franking machine, he did exactly the same thing in the Lib Dem office at the Municipal Buildings with a city council franking machine!

Again, one of his Lib Dem letters, complete with city council franked envelope, was handed to Labour officials by a concerned voter.

Now an internal enquiry Town Hall enquiry has begun into Twigger abusing his position and mis-using council taxpayers money for the Lib Dem campaign.

None of which should come as a surprise to any of our loyal readers.

After all, the Lib Dems have spent the last decade mis-using council taxpayers money.

We got it wrong....

Liverpool Subculture would like to issue an official apology to all our readers, to the people of Liverpool and to the millions of little fishies swimming in Salthouse Dock.
All of them will vividly recall the amazing scheme that the Liverpool Culture Company first came up with to stage the Paul McCartney gig at the Salthouse Dock.
The plan was simple (minded, eds).
Stun the fish swimming about in the dock.
Transfer them to a giant goldfish bowl.
Put lots of seats into the dock.
Arrange global TV rights.
And Bob's your uncle.
Then wake up the little fishies and put them back in the dock.
Sound.
Culture Company Director Kris Donaldson (£150K a year, plus Performance Related Pay at 15 per cent, per annum, adding up to around £190-£200K a year) and Lorna Dickenson (£100K a year former BBC producer) were both strong champions of the stun-the-Salthouse-fish scheme.
Frogmen were hired to delve deep into the dock's murky depths and all sorts of soundings were taken, before sadly, the great brains behind the Liverpool Culture Company and the Lib Dim city council finally decided that the scheme was not a go-er.
(Getawaywithyou? Really? What a terrible pity! You do surprise us! eds)
To our eternal shame, Liverpool Subculture has wilfully and persistently mislead our readers, the people of Liverpool and the poor little fishies in our coverage of this exciting, bold and imaginative scheme.
We reported that the feasibility studies for Salthouse Dock had cost a cool £250,000.
We were wrong.
Woefully, unforgiveably, abjectly, wrong.
Incorrect.
False.
Off beam.
Way off target.
Telling porkies.
A Complete Fabrication.
Making it up.
It was Defamatory.
Actionable.
A total lie.
The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is that the total cost of this non-event was..... £330,000.
Of hard-earned council taxpayers money.
Down the drain.
Wasted.
Thrown away.
Mis-spent.
Pissed up against the wall.
Frittered away.
Squandered.
We should like to apologise sincerely for our terrible mistake.
And we promise, we really promise, that this kind of breathtaking blunder will never, ever, ever, happen again.

OUR LORD REDMOND'S FAVOURITE BENCH - MILLIONS TAKE PART IN EXCLUSIVE ECHO PHONE VOTE

TENSION is rising as the Echo reveals the short-listed designs for its Capital of Culture 'Bench of the Entire Universe' contest. masterminded by Our Lord Redmond.
Millions of Merseysiders are expected to take part in the exclusive and extremely testing reader poll to pick the best bench for a person to sit on.
They are likely to have to have to take into account a huge range of incredibly complex considerations, including things like comfort; whether the actual bench is cold or warm; whether the actual bench leaves any marks on your buttocks when you stand up; and whether you prefer to hang about on street corners and become an ASBO type person or whether you have now learnt the error of your ways and prefer to sit on one of Our Lord Redmond's actual special benches and thus make a meaningful contribution to society and Liverpool's brilliant reign as a premier European city under Fireman Bradley.
As Our Lord Redmond has already remarked so aptly:
"Benches. They are not simply something to sit on. They are part of Liverpool's awe-inspiring world-class regeneration. They have the power to move. Literally. To inspire people beyond words. To encompass all that is good and decent in humanity. To lift us above the humdrum and to soar into the clouds, into the far flung corners of the galaxy, to boldly go....." (that's enough Star Trek, eds)
There is also likely to be a tie-breaker which goes along the lines of:
"My bench is better than yours, according to Our Lord Redmond, because.................................................... (in not less than 50 words, to be judged by one of Fireman Bradley's clever spin-doctors).
So you can see why people are getting breathlessly excited by all this in our world-class year as Capital of Culture 2008 and why the people of Anfield and Old Swan and Tuebrook are marvelling at the sheer leap of imagination that is required to fashion one of these 'benches'.
Hopefully the winning design will be sat on by Our Lord Redmond when he is carried through the street of Liverpool by a cheering and ever grateful populace for rescuing the city from its worst excesses.
Then we can all sit down and relax.
But in case you missed it - here is the Echo's eye-popping exclusive about their exclusive competition about the actual bench. Exclusively.
Spot the deliberate piss-take.

TODAY we unveil the shortlisted designs in our Benchmark competition.
Would-be designers inundated the ECHO with their creations for the contest, part of the Open Culture project, created by Phil Redmond and backed by Merseyside’s media.
The winning design will be developed into a full-size bench and a number of them will be put around the city to mark 2008 and as a legacy beyond Capital of Culture year.
Now it is down to ECHO readers to choose which bench is their favourite.
Voting runs all week to pick two finalists who will then have their benches made into prototypes before the winning design is finally chosen.
Phil Redmond, who launched Open Culture to encourage people to get involved in Capital of Culture, said: “We set a creative challenge and I’m very pleased with the response.
“I said at the beginning, it’s not simply a bench. It’s also a cultural resting place, something to sit on, reflect, read, or just watch the world go by.”
Hundreds of entries were also received from Merseyside schools and a separate shortlist will be printed in the ECHO next week when readers will also have the chance to choose a finalist from the schoolchildren’s designs.
ECHO editor Alastair Machray said: “We’d hoped for a good response to our competition but the sheer volume of entries was incredible.
“There were many really innovative, obviously well thought out designs and it was very difficult to whittle them down to just eight.
“All the shortlisted entries are distinct in themselves and make use of all sorts of materials, including wood, metal and recycled plastic.
“Whichever the readers choose as their favourite will form a unique contribution to 2008 and well beyond.”
The eight shortlisted entries include a 3-D model by James Lawson, who envisages his “08 Culture” design being created in recycled plastic.
Adrian Mercer has created a “Heart of Culture” design featuring solar-powered LED lights, while Brian McDonald harks back to the city’s engineering heritage with a galvanised steel Meccano-style seat.
He said: “With Meccano you could build anything from huge cranes, drawbridges and aeroplanes – and even park benches.
“I based my bench on Meccano because it was a large and successful company from Liverpool which gave pleasure, and still does, to many people both young and old.”
L Roberts has designed a ship-shaped seat with a back encompassing the city’s landmarks and the musical refrain of All You Need is Love.
Meanwhile, Joel Phelan sent in a series of designs, of which a wooden “chess bench” complete with a checked board and waterproof clocks to time players was chosen for shortlisting by judges.
Gres Mercer has incorporated a practical cycle rack in an 08-themed retro Mersey Ferry bench.
Ilsa Parry’s word-filled Storyteller bench celebrates Liverpool’s unique accent and language. Its designer said: “Every person has a story to tell, and Scousers tell them best. To read the full story you may have to revisit the resting place many times.”
Finally, Colin Powell has offered a “playful” concept called All Together Now, which he says he wants to “celebrate the positivity, humour and cameraderie of the people of Liverpool.”
Vote for your favourite bench
* VIEW the designs here (PDF)
CALL 0901 229 1800 and key in your two digit vote choice.
or
TEXT LEVOTE followed by a space and the two-digit number you wish to vote for and send your text to 84080
Terms and Conditions: 1. Calls will cost 25p at all times, although network charges may vary. 2. Text messages are charged at 25p plus standard message rate, and this service is available to all networks. 3. Number of entries per person is not limited. 4. Usual competition rules apply. 5. The competition is open to UK residents aged 18 and over at the time of entry, except employees and their immediate families of Trinity Mirror and each of their group companies, and anyone professionally connected with this promotion. 6. Lines will be open from 11am Monday, March 31 until midnight Friday, April 4 2008. 7. Full Trinity Mirror terms and conditions are available on request and can be viewed at www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/rules
culturechat.merseyblogs.co.uk/
And if more than ten people waste any of their hard-earned money on this nonsense, there is probably no hope left for the entire human race.

BENCHMARK? A PAIN IN THE ARSE FROM OUR LORD REDMOND....

OUR Lord Redmond has launched his great cultural initiative for 2008 - Build your own bench! The Echo, pitifully but predictably, has started a Readers Campaign inviting bench designs. (No 673 in a series of totally duff reader campaigns). At first, we thought the Benchmark campaign was tongue in cheek and some mischievous reporter was taking the piss. Now it's clear they are perfectly serious. How any self-respecting journalist can write this kind of shit, is beyond us. Perhaps we should join the Echo contest and build a papier mache bench made up out of all their slavishly uncritical stories about the Culture Company? It would certainly be big enough to provide seating for all the staff the city council is now sacking because of the money they have wasted. Perhaps the bench could go outside the Culture Company's HQ at the Fun Palace? It is laughable. Absurd. Surreal. Inept. Gob-smacking. We reproduce below the Liverpool Echo's campaign. Although which of the sycophantic plonkers in Editor Machray's team was responsible for this nonsense is a complete mystery....

read this and weep.....

ENTRIES have started to roll in for the ECHO’s Benchmark competition.
The contest, to design a bench to be built and placed in the city, appears to have captured the imagination of readers.
Benchmark is being organised as part of the Open Culture initiative launched by Phil Redmond and supported by Merseyside media.
It is aimed at give more people the chance to take part in Capital of Culture celebrations.
ECHO editor Alastair Machray said: “It’s obvious people are keen to rise to the challenge of designing a permanent piece of art in Capital of Culture year.
“There are some very imaginative entries coming in. Some of them are even three dimensional. And at this rate the judges are going to have their work cut out to narrow them down to a shortlist.
“We want people to let their imaginations run wild and create something that’s both useful and at the same time beautiful or thought-provoking.”
Designs can be submitted to be created from wood, metal, plastic or even recycled materials.
The competition is backed by our sister paper the Daily Post, Radio Merseyside and Radio City.
Judges from the ECHO, Open Culture and Liverpool’s public realm team will draw up a shortlist, with ECHO readers voting for the three finalists.
A prototype of their benches will be built with the public deciding on their favourite.
Ten of the winning benches will be placed around the city as a legacy for 2008.
The closing date is Friday, February 29.
CREATE your design for a culture bench in black or white or in colour and in pen, pencil or graphics.
Send the design, stating in which material it is to be made, by post to:
Benchmark competition, Editorial, Liverpool Echo, PO Box 48, Old Hall Street, Liverpool, L69 3EB.
Or email your entry to: catherinejones@liverpoolecho.co.uk
You must include your name, address and a contact phone number. Closing date for entries is Friday, February 29.
cagtherinejones@liverpoolecho.co.uk (sic)
What a hideous sop to cultural engagement.

THE "FUCK UP AND FUCK OFF" BRIGADE - AND HOW MUCH THEY COST COUNCIL TAXPAYERS

LIVERPOOL DESERVES BETTER THAN THIS - by LEE FORDE

I have compiled the attached dossier with a heavy heart and after a great deal of soul-searching. I know that it will damage the city I love and will shock many people.

But I believe that I have a public duty to tell the truth about what happened over the cancellation of the Mathew Street festival and in the days following the publication of the city council’s now discredited internal inquiry report.

My intention is to clear my name of any blame whatsoever. The city council’s own report, as this dossier reveals, has now been disowned by the Leader of the Council, Councillor Warren Bradley – he has admitted that the report’s findings are incorrect.

Nothing less than a full, independent enquiry into all the circumstances of Mathew Street will now be sufficient to allay the growing concern. I will provide any information in my possession to an independent enquiry and will offer full co-operation. I have nothing to fear. I shall also be asking my local MP to officially raise this matter and related matters contained here.

This dossier concentrates in particular on the actions and behaviour of the Leader of the Council and the former Leader, Councillor Mike Storey. I regard their underhand actions in conspiring to get rid of the chief executive of the Culture Company - for whatever reason - as both unethical and utterly immoral.

I believe that the whitewash carried out over the cancellation of Mathew Street cannot disguise the extremely serious issues which exist at a very senior level in the city council and the Culture Company. The battle between officers and politicians which is being constantly fought, is damaging Liverpool and making casualties of the innocent and blameless. They are being cynically made the scapegoats while the guilty go free.

In my view, some of the senior personalities involved in this shameful episode have shown absolutely no regard or concern for other people. They appear perfectly willing to wreck other people’s lives and sacrifice the careers of others to selfishly try and save their own positions and promote their own particular plots.

They have shown themselves to have behaved without honour, decency or a shred of integrity.

Liverpool deserves better than this. Liverpool deserves the truth.

That is the purpose of this report – it is for others to decide the further action which is necessary in Liverpool’s best interests.

Lee Forde

CAST OF CHARACTERS

a) Sir Diddy - Sir David Henshaw, former chief executive and mastermind of the evil cabal. Greedy, blackmailer, corrupt, liar, coup plotter. Now Chair of the health service in the North West - despite the opposition of 25 Labour MPs. Tony Parrish's sworn enemy. Successfully exposed by the now legendary liverpoolevilcabal blog. Fled Liverpool with tail between his legs. TP still out to finish him off. Small man - giant ego.
a)Sir David Henshaw
a)Sir Diddy
b) The rottweiller - Dr David McElhinney, chief executive of Liverpool Direct Limited. Henshaw's right hand man. Twisted, vicious, irredeemably nasty piece of work. Robbed the city blind to feather his own nest and his own predilections for blonde women. Should be in jail.
b) The Rottweiller's bolt hole
b)Blondes
b)boxing hobby benefits from LDL
b)The rottweiller
c) Hasitall, the smiling assassin - Phil Halsall, Executive Director and third member of the evil cabal. City now £23million in the red thanks to his incompetent financial stewardship. Hypocrite, liar, worthless. Hanging on to his job by the skin of his teeth.
c)Hasitall
d) Colin CoverUp - Colin Hilton, current chief executive. Whitewashed the wrongdoing of the evil cabal. Lacklustre and incompetent bureaucrat. Not exactly inspirational.
d)Colin CoverUp
e) The fireman - Warren Bradley, current council leader. Spectacularly out of his depth. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer. A puppet of his parents, Storey and Paul Clark. No discernible beliefs, except hanging on to power, so an ideal Lib Dem. Constantly given the run-around by officials, who take the piss out of him behind his back..
f) The storeyteller - Mike Storey, former council leader. Consistently weak.
g) The Harbarrowboy - Jason Harborow, former chief executive of the Culture Company. Promoted way beyond his abilities by Henshaw and Storey. Ruinous mis-management of Culture. Perma-tanned from constant trips abroad, laden with gold jewellery, ecky-thump accent. Cost the city tens of millions of pounds. On the run in Spain, where he has bought an ice-cream factory. Sickening, arrogant little jumped up con-man. Just like Henshaw.
g)The Harbarrowboy
h) Donald Bullshitter - Kris Donaldson, acting chief exec of Culture in the Harbarrowboy's absence. Can't take decisions to save his life. Fantastically spendthrift, no judgement, like a frightened rabbit caught in headlights. There is genuine amusement that the most incompetent of them all has risen to the top! All teeth, irritating US drawl and no substance. Probably voted for Bush. Living proof of the phrase 'couldn't run a piss-up in a brewery'.
ha) The Great White Hope - Phil Redmond, multi-millionaire Labour Party member. Self-styled saviour of 2008 and voice of the people. Lagubrious, loutish demeanour. Affects a thick Scouse accent for public appearances. Self-interested ego-maniac eyeing up his chances of becoming first elected Liverpool Mayor. Appears to believe he is a central character in a low-grade soap opera. Keeps on referring to 'when I was at Brookside, we did this...." without any apparent shame. Has done nothing so far but get himself headlines in the Echo.Utter waste of space.
ha)Redmond attacks BBC for perfectly impartial report
ha)Redmond makes stupid promises
i) Ken Unworthy/the bald legal eagle - Michael Kenworthy, crap city solicitor.
j) Lee Forde - former Events boss, warned that Mathew Street could not be delivered because of Harbarrowboy's massive cuts. Jumped ship rather than have his professionalism and integrity compromised. Fighting the city council for constructive dismissal. Victimised and subject to dirty tricks campaign by the council. We are on his side.
k) Joe Anderson - Labour Leader. The best hope for the city. Hasn't put a foot wrong, harrying the Lib Dems at every turn. No nonsense - set to wield the axe amongst the fat cats. Determined to clean up the city.
l) 'Randy' Newman - Paul Newman, £90,000 a year Head of Communications for the Culture Company. Stabbing Joe Riley in the back is just one of his many offences. Staff secretly snigger about his Leslie Phillips 'Carry On Doctor', "well, hell-oo..." drawl at the sight of an attractive new woman. Hence, also known as 'lascivious Leslie'. A proven liar, bully and worst of all, completely ineffective. Lives in Gloucester - only here for the money and the next fat cat job. Currently cosy-ing up like crazy to Bryan Gray, from the NWDA, in an attempt to get a new job.
l)Randy Newman
m) Joe Riley - irritatingly opinionated columnist at the appallingly downmarket Echo. Self-styled 'expert' on all things cultural. Appears to have had the wind knocked out of him after being disciplined for falling asleep during a Jimmy McGovern play. May not have the bottle anymore to critiscise the council/Culture Co. Lacks awareness of any wider world outside the narrow confines surrounding his desk.
m)Riley attacks CoC stupidity
n) Robbing Archer - Robyn Archer, Aussie Artistic Director personally appointed by Henshaw. Did bugger all but take the money and flounce around town with a girly retinue on 'scoping' exercises. Paid off with £360,000 by the Fireman. Absolutely disastrous episode for Liverpool.
x) more to come...

INTERNATIONAL NEWS! BUENOS DIAS SENOR!!!!

By now, our loyal readers will have grown accustomed to the international attention which Liverpool subCulture attracts. But we thought one small technical detail about one of our global afficionados might be of particular interest.
On 11th October 2007, beginning at 06:16:11, we had one particular reader in Spain, (of all countries! eds) who spent a total of 6 hours 16 mins and 0 secs reading the subculturegossip post 'HAS JASE DONE A RUNNER ALREADY?'
He spent almost as much time on the blog as Trinity Mirror, The Mersey Partnership, the Audit Commission and Liverpool Direct!
We have now labelled this entry on our internal monitoring system 'The Harbarrowboy in Spain' - and he gets a groovy little Spanish flag icon alongside his technical details for showing such conspicuous interest in our humble little efforts. This will enable us to keep you posted of his future interest in the blog.
Still, you would think there would be something else to do around the hacienda, wouldn't you?

Sunday, December 30, 2007

REVEALED: BAND AT CENTRE OF SECOND PROBE INTO HARBARROWBOY

THIS is the band 'SIRENZ'* who jumped the queue over other groups at the 2006 Mathew Street Festival.

The Crosby-based six-piece were at the centre of an internal council investigation into the actions of the Harbarrowboy and a second un-named senior council official.

It is alleged that both officials abused their public positions of trust to ensure that SIRENZ appeared at the Festival.

The Harbarrowboy, who was in charge of the 2006 Festival, and the second official are alleged to have used their positions to enable SIRENZ to circumvent the official judging process.

Unlike every other local band which appeared at the Festival that year, SIRENZ were not approved by an independent panel.

They were simply given one of the best slots at the Festival.

It is not clear what relationship - financial, professional or personal - the band have, or had, with either the Harbarrowboy or the un-named official.

Of course their is no suggestion that SIRENZ (dramatic logo above right, eds) paid any money to either official in order to appear at Mathew Street.

Nor is there any suggestion (yet, eds) that the Harbarrowboy stood to benefit in any way from making sure they got the gig.

But since Colin Cover Up has now effectively silenced the probe by paying off the Harbarrowboy with £250,000 of council taxpayers money, it is unlikely that we will ever find the answers to these questions.
NB Our enquiries are continuing....

*Here is some of their publicity blurb from MySpace

About sirenz

Davie Reid - Singer/Songwriter/Synth player, John Reid - Lead Guitar, Joe Swift - Bass, Karl Blower - Rhythm Guitar, Marc Guy - Drums, Keith Merner - Synth Player/Samples/Tech

Sirenz formed in 2005 creating their own material in a rock'n roll, electronic style. In this time realising the band has what it takes to make a career in the industry, the idea to expose their style to a wider audience is exciting and the goal of all members. in 2006, then with countless gigs and experience in studios, recording at their own expense they decided to get in touch with a friend with recording knowledge so that they could record off their own backs. The friend took up second synth player and this element gave the band new horizons and created freedom to uncover new ideas. 2007 now with a fully shaped sound scape, Sirenz future lies in the hands of record companies to take their sound and career into the music industry itself.

Sirenz are 6 young men who live and breathe music. Sirenz incorporate drums, synth, guitar, bass and stunning vocals to produce a sound that is unique in 2007. The music, of a rock/electronic genre, is innovative and creative and has helped the group build a strong fan base in the Northwest which is spreading to Southern areas of the UK. Touring the Merseyside area since 2005, they have performed on numerous occasions at prominent music venues across the area. Publicity has been gained through such appearances and interest in the group continues to grow. Their sound continues to develop and the commitment of the band is highlighted by their experimentation with recording and performing. Spurred on through Sirenz’ dedication to music, the growth of their musical talents and their emotional and life experiences, they will endeavour to be a success.

Monday, December 24, 2007

WIRRAL EXCLUSIVE: HARBARROWBOY ESCAPES SECOND MATHEW ST PROBE INTO 'ABUSE OF POWER'

THE Harbarrowboy has escaped a second internal city council investigation into Mathew Street.

The probe was ordered by chief executive Colin CoverUp just two weeks ago after fresh allegations were made about the running of the Mathew Street Festival - in 2006.

But now that the city council has decided to pay the Harbarrowboy off with £250,000 of council taxpayers money, it is unlikely that the investigation will ever be concluded.

(How convenient, eds)

The probe is likely to be mothballed, hidden in a drawer and covered-up for eternity.

(The city council are, at least, consistent, aren't they? eds)

The investigation by the city council's Internal Audit department had originally centred on the Harbarrowboy's role in promoting a particular local rock band who were suddenly given a prime spot at the 2006 Festival.

It is alleged that Jase abused his position and authority as chief executive of the Culture Company to unfairly ensure that the band were given the gig.

A second senior city council official was also being investigated after he was implicated in bringing pressure to bear on staff to make sure that the band appeared.

It is alleged that both Jason Harborow and the senior official intervened to make sure the band appeared.

The Harbarrowboy's £250,000 deal also now makes it almost certain that the un-named official will escape any disciplinary action.

(How convenient again, eds)

Local bands who appeared at the 2006 Mathew Street Festival had to go through a rigorous vetting procedure by an independent panel of judges.

But it is understood that the band at the centre of the probe had not gone through the same procedure.

They were able to jump the queue of local talent and never appeared in front of the judges - but were suddenly given a prime spot at the Festival.

It is alleged that both the Harbarrowboy and the senior official repeatedly pressured staff to give them a slot on the band's behalf.

Whether there was a financial, personal or professional connection between the band and Jase and the other council official is not clear.

Nor is it clear what the justification was for allowing one band to get around the established procedures.

Rather than getting to the bottom of all this, (as would befit any open, transparent and proper public organisation - which obviously rules out the city council under CoverUp, eds) the city council decided instead to opt for a Christmas pay-off for Jase.

So Colin CoverUp decided to turn a blind eye to any potential wrong-doing (not the for the first time, eds) and give the alleged culprit a big fat cheque instead.

Meanwhile the blog will continue our enquiries into this new cover-up (despite the festive season, eds) and will keep you up-dated on developments and any further details we can discover.

Stay posted.

PS Some may notice that this all bears a remarkable similarity to the original Tony Parrish's legendary expose of the smiling assassin's involvement in fixing bands for the Summer Pops. Regular readers will recall how Hasitall's son Liam's unknown band 'Abe' suddenly found themselves propelled to playing support for Status Quo at the Pops, thanks to the 'close relationship' between Halsall and CMP promoter Chas 'show me the money' Cole. We can confirm that this second investigation DOES NOT concern 'Abe' who predictably disappeared without trace, after their appearance.

PPS This is the 100th post by Liverpool SubCulture. It's our anniversary. So let's celebrate!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

CHRISTMAS TREAT: SEE THE EVIL CABAL CELEBRATE THE HARBARROWBOY JOINING THEIR RANKS....

Click on the link below to see the Evil Cabal in action this Christmas as they celebrate Jason joining their rotten, corrupt, greedy and lying ranks (who said the season of goodwill was alive? eds)

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1703727964

It takes a while to load, but it's well worth the wait.

With thanks to Liverpool Confidential for the inspiration @ Some elfin around

PS Why not join in the fun and have hours of festive frolics with some of our famous characters?! And see Gossip for the Scrooge who said 'No' to Mathew Street! eds

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

A QUARTER OF A MILLION POUNDS FOR THE HARBARROWBOY - THE COST TO COUNCIL TAXPAYERS OF THE FIREMAN AND STOREYTELLER'S WEAKNESS AND STUPIDITY...

FIREMAN BRADLEY and the Storeyteller have cost council taxpayers £250,000 - the amount the ruling Lib Dems today voted to hand to the Harbarrowboy.

Three Lib Dem Councillors - Marilyn Fielding (the Rottweiller McElhinney's tame poodle, eds), Dave Antrobus, and Bernie Turner (business colleague of Joe Riley snitch Carolyn Hughes, eds) voted to stump up the people's cash to Jase because of the blundering Leader and former Leader's mistakes.

There were only two councillors - both Labour - who voted against giving the huge pay-off to the £150,000-a-year (plus Performance Related Pay, eds) Harbarrowboy, who:

failed over Mathew Street
failed over Capital of Culture 2008 and
failed the city of Liverpool

But Labour lost the vote 3:2 - and so failure and incompetence was once again again rewarded by the Lib Dem city council.

Expert employment lawyers (not Ken Unworthy then? eds) told the special council committee that the Harbarrowboy had a cast-iron case for constructive dismissal against the city council because of the words and actions of Bradley and Storey.

The legal eagles cited three specific areas where Bradley and Storey had left the city council extremely vulnerable to legal action:

1) Bradley's ludicrously insane email to Colin Cover Up demanding that Harbarrowboy be relieved of his duties for the Mathew Street fiasco (copied to all members of the Lib Dem group and thus instantly leaked by three of them to Labour's gleeful Joe Anderson, eds)

2) Public statements made by both Bradley and Storey - in particular a barely literate and seriously ill-judged article written by Storey, ironically for the Daily Post, which attacked the Harbarrowboy after the discredited Mathew St report.

3) The 'Perroni Plot' when Bradley and Storey tried to lure former Events boss and Mathew St scapegoat Lee Forde into their continuing schoolboy conspiracy against the Harbarrowboy (nuff said about that, ed)

The legal eagles said that the actions of both leading Lib Dems had made the Harbarrowboy's position as chief exec untenable and had given him a golden opportunity to sue the council for constructive dimissal.

They also warned that unless the council settled with him, Jase could easily bring a hugely embarrassing civil case against Bradley and Storey for harassment, with unlimited damages being awarded!

This explosive and devastating legal opinion will now be used as evidence by Joe Anderson when Bradley and Storey are hauled in front of the Standards Board next year. (Oh fantastic! What a great year 2008 is going to be! eds)

The pair of Lib Dem dunderheads have so far between them personally cost the city council's long-suffering taxpayers well over £1million through their weakness and incompetence.

paying off corrupt Sir Diddy Henshaw

paying off crap Robbing Archer

paying off the Harbarrowboy's side-kick, Chris Green

paying off CoC's first Operations Director, Kevin Johnston (who fell foul of the evil cabal, eds) and now

paying off Jase

(Can't someone pay them off? eds)

How much more will the Fireman and Storeyteller cost Liverpool in lost opportunity, public esteem and hard cash, before they are removed from office by the Standards Board or the voters? (Hope its the voters first, eds)

Meanwhile Mr Lee Forde - the only one with any integrity and any use - has not received a single penny from the city council.

We hope that the people of Liverpool make the Lib Dems pay for their incompetence, waste and contempt. Failing that, pehaps some public minded lawyer would care to sue the pair of them for wasting and abuse of public money.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

NOMINATIONS are now officially open for The Tonys, 2007.

As all readers of Liverpool subCulture know, these are probably the most eagerly-awaited and celebrated awards in the entire blogosphere.

Self-styled scouse celebrities fight like cat and dog to get a nomination.

Others secretly brief the local media or leak confidential documents.

Some try to bribe the judges (usually unsuccessfully, but it rather depends on the nature of the bribe, eds).

A few, disgracefully, even try to vote more than once.

But then everyone forgets all the rivalries and gets dressed up to the nines for the glittering awards ceremony (which is normally held during 'grab a granny' night at the Grafton).

So please send us your nominations for The Tony's this year.

Awards include:

Best Story

Worst Cultural cock-up (this one is already heavily over-subscribed, eds)
Best performance

Most promising newcomer

Most outrageous lie

Best email

Best kept secret
Politician of the Year

Biggest waste of money

Legacy of 2008

Top bullshitter

Quote of the Year

Biggest mistake

One to watch

Most dynamic duo

Official follower of the original Tony Parrish (a special award in honour of our founder and patron, eds)

The Rottweiller McElhinney's annual award for Corruption, Theft and Lies (sponsored by BT, eds)

Photo of the Year

Any other award suggestions will be considered. Closing date for nominations: Midnight on Wednesday.

(And we will try to get around to revealing the winners by Christmas, eds)

Friday, December 14, 2007

SHOCK EXCLUSIVE: The Leader of Liverpool is a liar - it's official!

THREE cheers for the Liverpool Daily Post for standing up to the Lying Leader of Liverpool city council.

Fireman Bradley tried to threaten and bully the Post into submission over its coverage of the secret meeting with former Events Manager Lee Forde.

Bradley sent two threatening letters to the Post and then had the brass neck to make an offical complaint to the Press Complaints Commission.

At issue was the Post's coverage of the Mathew Street debacle and Bradley's secret rendezvous with Mr Forde.

Bradley hoped that his bullying and threats would silence the Post and make it toe the Lib Dem line.

Then he made his big mistake (not another one?! eds).

Under pressure, and desperate to rally support amongst the Lib Dem faithful, he regaled Wednesday's riveting council meeting with tales of how he was taking on the Post.

He revealed the private and confidential correspondence he had sent to the Post - and in the process tried to junk the paper's entirely fair and accurate coverage of events.

Unsurprisingly (to everyone but Bradley, eds) the Post had no alternative but to respond in kind by going public on the correspondence.

Hence the remarkable and lethal editorial in today's paper which you can read again here: 'The Leader of Liverpool is telling porkies to try and save his scrawny little neck and medicocre political career.'

All that was missing was the headline: SHOCK EXCLUSIVE: The Leader of Liverpool is a Liar - it's official!'

So we have supplied that instead.

Let us recap on the story so far:

Bradley has told three lies (at least, eds) about his meeting with Lee Forde.

Lie No 1. " I never had any meeting with Mr Forde".

Lie No 2. "The meeting was at Mr Forde's instigation".

Lie No 3. "I told Colin Hilton all about it."

Bradley has told a fourth lie, by claiming that he never told Daily Post reporter David Bartlett that he had not met Mr Forde.

In other words, he is now denying the denial. (Phew, this is getting complicated, eds)

Mr Bartlett has a full shorthand note of the interview with Bradley, which as the Post triumphantly points out, is admissable as evidence in any court in the land.

That deals with Lie No 1.

Then Mr Forde's phone bill proves that the initative for the meeting came from Bradley himself.

That deals with Lie No 2.

And Colin 'There can be no more cover-ups' Hilton's letter to Joe Anderson flatly contradicts Bradley's claim to have notified the chief executive of the meeting.

That deals with Lie No 3.

Lie.

After lie.

But it is worse than that, folks.

The Leader of the great city of Liverpool, in order to try and save his own skin, has questioned the integrity of the Daily Post reporter, Mr Bartlett; its editor, Mark Thomas; and the integrity of the newspaper itself.

Now, while it would be perfectly acceptable to question the integrity of the craven Echo, which has wilfully ignored this story, the Daily Post is a wholly different kettle of fish.

And it is disgusting that the foolish fireman is prepared to try and 'do in' an innocent journalist for telling the truth, in exactly the same way as he tried to 'do in Mr Lee 'totally innocent' Forde.

All to save his pathetic political career.

Frankly my dears, it is just not on.

Bradley will be removed as Leader by the Standards Board.

He will also lose his case against the Daily Post at the Press Complaints Commission.

His political career will therefore be at an end.

Meanwhile the lobby fodder in the Lib Dem ranks - with the honourable exceptions of the principled but barmy Jan Clein, the intelligent and principled Stuart Monkcom, and the fully-detached Beatrice Fraenkel who all abstained - have all voted in their unthinking hordes for Bradley's "I am a victim" 'hearts and flowers speech.

So they are all culpable in this disgraceful and disgusting cover-up of Bradley's dishonesty, ineptitude and stupidity.

And they are complicit in his attempts to blame the innocent for his own guilt.

Unbelievably. the Lib Dems were all apparently overcome and moved to tears by Storeyteller's entirely vacuous but passionate defence of 'nothing very much in particular except us Lib Dems are frightfully good chaps and you Labour people are terribly uncouth plebs'.

They are consistent fools, if nothing else.

This now is the truth (and we are being charitable here, eds):

No one doubts that Warren Bradley is an engaging politician.

No one doubts that he loves his family.

No one doubts that he never asked to become Leader.

But that is not the point.

At first, people gave him credit for his refreshing naivety and his endearing reaction of blurting out the first thing that came into his head.

Then that became a habit - like a schoolboy pinching apples.

Then, as things started to go wrong, it turned into a way of life - he found it easier to tell lies than to tell the truth; to cover up and mislead rather than to come clean.

None of that might have mattered, too much.

Until he started telling lies which destroyed innocent people's careers .

And threatened to damage innocent journalists's reputations.

That was when he started to run out of time.

And excuses.

Bradley has behaved disgracefully and arrogantly.

He can't help himself.

He has lied and cheated and mislead.

He has let down himself.

Let down his family.

Let down his party.

Most of all, he has let down Liverpool. And brought the city into disrepute.

It is now time for the foolish Fireman to go.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

FIREMAN BRADLEY: "IT'S NOT MY FAULT - ITS ALL THOSE HORRIBLE BLOGGERS!"

FIREMAN Bradley has come out whimpering...

The foolish firefighter is blaming everyone but himself for the Mathew Street debacle, the Lee Forde plot and the repeated lies he has told.

Bradley went cap in hand to the Lib Dem group meeting last night after sending them a humiliating email pleading for their support (does this guy never learn? eds).

And surprise, surprise, guess what he gave as an explanation for this utter shambles?

He blamed a conspiracy against him by the two F's - former city council Events chief Mr Forde and former city council communications director Matt Finigan.

(Clearly Bradley doesn't know the meaning of the words truth and integrity, eds)

Bradley also instructed his flock not to read the Liverpool subculture blog anymore on pain of displinary action!

(An instruction which has obviously been completely ignored, eds)

Bradley again gave another tear-jerking performance about how his family had been upset by all the press coverage (although so far, he has never given a thought for anyone else's family, has he folks? eds)

He also completely forgot to mention that it was he, in fact, who first involved his family in all this by sending poor Pauline off to fetch Storeyteller for the secret rendezvous with Lee Forde.

The fireman has also been rocked by news of the prosecution and looming court appearance of fellow fireman, chief whip and Wavertree ward co-conspirator Steve Hurst for producing an 'anonymous' and disgraceful smear leaflet in the last May elections - see today's Daily Post and previous Liverpool subCulture posts (you read it here first! eds. Actually come to think of it, you only read it here - none of the tree-killing meejaa dared to even cover the story.) Bradley has so far failed to condemn this leaflet or to suspend Hurst, pending the court case.

There is, meanwhile, amongst his Lib Dem colleagues growing speculation that the remaining Wavertree ward councillor Mike Storeyteller - also known as Snow White in this pantomime season - has been the source for much of the information contained in the world-famous Liverpool subCulture blog (aw shucks, eds)

But a good blogger never reveals his sources (which are infinite and varied, eds)

Meanwhile Bradley won't lose any sleep about the de-selection of Beatrice Fraenkel and her replacement by friend (ok, ally, eds) of Inspector Clue-less, Paula Keaveney. Fraenkel should have quit months ago, when we first revealed that she was dabbling with crossing to Labour.

Interestingly the rottweiller McElhinney's poodle, the incredibly gullible and hysterical Marilyn Fielding, has been the only Lib Dem voice to publicly critiscise the Fireman for his 'Perroni and Parakeet' secret session with Lee Forde (obviously her master's voice at work, eds)

However Bradley remains in complete denial, seemingly unaware that he has done anything wrong at all, and believing that he is the victim of a terrible conspiracy. (Talk about the pot calling the kettle, eds). Reflect on your own behaviour Bradley and one day the penny might drop.

But we can also reveal that Bradley's Mathew St/Capital of Culture shambles will bring more sensational shocks very soon, folks.

And that's a promise....

Meanwhile for a further insight into how, under the Fireman's stupid stewardship, the city council will lie, cheat and steal to frame innocent employees read this amazing story about the behaviour, immorality and corrupt corporatism of the city council....

We told you so.

Saturday, December 08, 2007

(PART TWO) LEE FORDE'S DOSSIER: THE EVIDENCE IGNORED BY THE COUNCIL ....

Mathew Street ‘Rescue Plan’ abandoned

Lee Forde returned from holiday abroad on August 4th, 2007 to discover that the Mathew Street Festival had been cancelled two days before.

Councillor Bradley then contacted Mr Ford to ask if, even at this late stage, he could rescue the Festival.

The two men met at Councillor Bradley’s home on Sunday, August 5th.

Mr Forde, who was serving his notice with the city council, told Councillor Bradley that he could make no promises, but that he would try to put together a rescue plan, provided that sufficient resources were made available, he was provided with a copy of the Capita Symonds report which had forced the cancellation and as long as there was sufficient support for Mathew Street continuing.

The following day Catherine Garnell, who worked in chief executive Colin Hilton’s office, sent a copy of the CS report to Mr Forde’s private email address.

Mr Forde met Mr Hilton and Councillor Bradley in Mr Hilton’s office in the Municipal Buildings at 10 am on Tuesday August 7th to discuss how to move a rescue plan forward.

Mr Forde, who was later to be blamed by the city council for the cancellation of Mathew Street, was given the go-ahead and arranged for safety experts to travel to Liverpool from London the next day. The intention was to put together a rescue plan which addressed all the issues which had been raised by CS in their report and then submit a revised scheme for Mathew Street to them on Friday August 10th.

Mr Forde’s deputy Eddy Grant, emailed Councillor Bradley to keep him updated on progress.

From: eddy grant
To: wj.bradley@blueyonder.co.uk
Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 4:39 PM
Subject: CS

We are unable to get hold of anyone at Cpaita Symonds. This is because they are very busy. They may also not wish to speak to anyone except the most senior council officials because of the leak of their report, for whatever reason we need to establish what further support can be given

Can someone

1. Invite them to be independent safety officer- this is the best solution and will work for all sides- if they are unable to be directly involved would they be able to evaluaute the "rescue plan" either in full or against the points that they raise in their report

This could be in two stages

First an evalutation of the methodolgy of the recue plan and team
Second a full evaluation of the plan once written

If they are unable to undertake any of this work we have a samll iceberg but LF (Lee Forde, ed) working on alternative, if we can get them to evaluate the methodology we can get this back on track if Police agree to alternative and reasons CS give is work time as oppossed to safety

Regards
e

As he was meeting with the safety experts from London on Wednesday August 8th, Mr Forde received an email from a city council official who was investigating the cancellation of Mathew Street, informing him that Mr Hilton had now decided not to progress with the rescue plan. No explanation was offered.

>----Original Message---->

From: Karen.McMurdo@liverpool.gov.uk>

Date: 08/08/2007 08:32>

To: leon.forde@virgin.net>

Subj: Laptop

Lee

Colin (Hilton, eds) advised me he did ask you to undertake some work, but the proposal will not be taken up, can you therefore bring in your lap toptoday. Any problems please give me a call.

Regards
Karen McMurdo

In a subsequent conversation, Councillor Bradley told Mr Forde he was “****ing sick. I can’t believe what has happened.”

Later the same day, a local paper (the Liverpool Echo, eds) carried a story claiming, wrongly, that Mr Forde had been sent home on gardening leave. It is now believed that this story had been leaked on city council instructions in an attempt to try and implicate and smear Mr Forde.

COMING SOON: Part 3 The Battle between the Harbarrowboy and Storeyteller

Friday, November 30, 2007

MATHEW ST SENSATION: WORLD EXCLUSIVE: LEE FORDE BLOWS THE WHISTLE ON BRADLEY AND STOREY'S PLOT TO OUST THE HARBARROWBOY

MATHEW ST scapegoat Lee Forde has blown the whistle on a conspiracy by Fireman Bradley and Storeyteller to oust bungling Culture chief Jason Harbarrowboy.

Forde has compiled an astonishingly detailed and shocking dossier which reveals how:

Bradley emailed Forde a day after the Mathew Street report was published

After blaming Forde for the Mathew St debacle, a desperate Bradley had the gall to then beg him for a meeting to discuss 'next steps'

Bradley disowned his council's own offical Mathew Street report - after supporting it publicly

At a secret meeting on Sunday in Bradley's home in Wavertree, the council leader was joined by partner in crime, former council leader Mike Storey.

The pair of politicians then begged an astonished Forde to hand over to them confidential documents and emails to help them get rid of the Harbarrowboy!

A shocked and horrified Forde decided to expose the pathetic pair for their dishonest, unscrupulous and immoral plotting.

The Forde dossier - which runs to 15 extremely readable and gripping pages - has now been deposited with the Daily Post and the Liverpool Echo, whose heavily censored versions you will be able to read tomorrow (if you can be arsed, eds).

But the full, glorious text of the dossier is now being reproduced here in yet another World Exclusive for the Liverpool subCulture blog.

And, we can reveal, Labour Leader Joe Anderson has already reported Bradley and Storey to the Standards Board and demanded a full-scale investigation into their plot and their shocking behaviour. We believe the Lib Dem pair have shown, in their disgusting treatment of Forde and their attempt to manipulate him for their own ends, that they are unfit to govern the great city of Liverpool.

Lee Forde, on the other hand, has consistently shown tremendous strength of character, a formidable determination to clear his name and admirable honesty, principle and integrity.

The Harbarrowboy of course, may take temporary comfort from Bradley and Storey being shopped trying to do him in. But, rest assured dear readers, the Harbarrowboy's days are well and truly numbered - and will be over very quickly indeed.

Bradley's 'pissed-off' emails to Forde can be found on a separate post on the aptly-named City of the Dead blog.

Liverpool deserves better - why Lee Forde blew the whistle on Bradley and Storey is on your left.

Part 2 of the 15-page report, which includes new email evidence about Mathew Street, will follow shortly (well, we need a glass or two of bubbly first to celebrate, eds)

So pull up a seat, settle down and read, in Lee Forde's own words, how the city of Liverpool's Lib Dem leadership are a couple of lying, cheating, dishonest bastards....

The Background

“Out of the blue on Sunday afternoon (November 18th), I received five separate e-mails from Councillor Warren Bradley, leader of Liverpool city council.
The emails, virtually identical, had all been sent on Saturday in the space of three minutes from his private email address. Each of the emails asked for a meeting with me regarding the Mathew Street report which had been published two days earlier.
I was absolutely stunned by this approach from the Leader of the Council - the last time I had seen him was two days before, as he gave numerous interviews to the press, radio and TV in support of the findings of the city council’s report into Mathew Street. I had not expected to ever hear again from someone who had publicly condemned me so unfairly.
I was still extremely angry both about the publication of the council report and the Leader of the Council’s own comments in support of the report, which had questioned both my professionalism and my integrity. I had been blamed for the cancellation of the Festival – even though I was innocent.
Since Friday, I had been attacked by the full weight of the council machine, which had deployed considerable staff and resources to try and trash my reputation.
Its report was a complete whitewash and a disgraceful cover-up of the true circumstances which had lead to the decision by the Culture Company chief executive, Jason Harborow and city council chief executive Colin Hilton to cancel the Mathew Street festival in early August 2007, almost three months after I had submitted my resignation as Events Manager with the city council.
I had done all within my power over a period of almost a year previously to repeatedly notify my superiors in the Culture Company of the problems in staging the Mathew Street festival in 2007, as a result of the loss of the Pier Head and big cuts in funding.
I knew too that Councillor Bradley had been aware of these difficulties and my strenuous attempts to try and save the Festival. This information was noticeably absent from the council report, which had taken almost three months to produce and which had been drastically amended at the Leader of the Council’s insistence.
As a former employee, I was a convenient scapegoat, while the real culprits escaped.
Once my shock and surprise at seeing the emails had subsided on the Sunday afternoon, I agreed to Councillor Bradley’s invitation to meet, although I informed a number of people in advance. I decided that I had nothing to lose from a meeting - I wanted to find out what ‘next steps’ referred to and what his motive was.
I also intended to use the opportunity to press my case for the council’s report to be retracted and for me to be given a public apology.
Through text messages, I arranged with Councillor Bradley to go to his home on Sunday evening.
Ironically, the first and last time I had been to his home was in early August, when he had asked me to put together a rescue plan for the cancelled Mathew Street Festival, while I was serving my notice.” (See later emails)

The Meeting

Date: Sunday 18th November, 2007 - two days after the publication of the city council’s Mathew Street Report.
Venue: Councillor Warren Bradley’s home in Wavertree.
Present: Lee Forde, former Events manager, Liverpool Culture Company; Councillor Warren Bradley, Leader of Liverpool city council; Councillor Mike Storey, Executive Member for Regeneration and Liverpool’s 800th Birthday celebrations.

“I arrived at Councillor Bradley’s house, slightly later than we had arranged, at about 8.20pm on 18th November. I must have been a bit agitated because I had got lost several times and had to phone him to get directions. I was feeling very nervous – I did not know what to expect, or what I was walking into.
I was greeted at the front door by Councillor Bradley who shook my hand, called me ‘mate’ and ushered me inside. He thanked me for coming and offered me a drink – tea, coffee or a beer. I told him I would feel better with a beer and he fetched me a bottle of Peroni.
When he returned, he told me he had also invited Councillor Storey to attend and asked if I “was alright with that?” I told him I had nothing to hide.
Councillor Bradley explained that his wife Pauline had already gone to fetch Councillor Storey in their car.
At this stage, although outwardly calm, I was confused and completely gob-smacked at the turn of events. I could not fathom Councillor Bradley’s motive for the meeting. Nor did he immediately explain the purpose of the meeting.
While my mind raced, I could not help observe to myself that the Leader of the Council had not yet had the good grace to apologise for his role in the publication of a biased council report which had caused me, my family, my friends and colleagues so much personal upset by trying to damage my professional reputation and integrity.
Councillor Bradley then asked me how I was and mentioned that he had ‘felt sorry’ for me on Friday when, as he was giving interviews to the media at Liverpool Town Hall, he had seen me standing outside.
I had been trying to defend my reputation and integrity to the media after he had helped attack them. Councillor Bradley said he really ‘felt’ for me. This was the closest he ever came to apologising for his conduct and for the council’s report.
Just as Councillor Bradley began to explain how ‘disappointed’ he was with the report’s findings – although he had not expressed this to the media at the time - Councillor Storey arrived.
Councillor Bradley invited Councillor Storey to join us in having a beer and left the room to fetch a bottle. I and other colleagues had been told that the two men had fallen out some months before, but they appeared to be on good terms. While Councillor Bradley was out of the room, Councillor Storey asked me how I was. I told him, with some understatement, that “I have felt better” and how disappointed I had been with the council’s report.
Councillor Bradley returned and explained to Councillor Storey that he had invited me around to discuss the report’s findings, as he was unhappy with them.
Again, I wondered why he had not expressed this unhappiness to the media when he had the opportunity?
Councillor Storey (now in terrified hiding below, eds) volunteered that he had spoken to me recently and understood that I still wanted to be involved in events in Liverpool. I was not sure of the relevance of this observation.
Councillor Storey then observed that it was “ironic” that I had been attacked in the council’s report as “Lee was responsible for transforming Mathew Street from a disorganised event to a national Festival.”

Councillor Bradley immediately agreed and observed that he felt the report identified the wrong people as being responsible for the cancellation of the Festival.
I was very angry. I told him that I felt the council’s report was “full of lies”, fatally flawed and fundamentally wrong. I had been scape-goated even though I had been a loyal servant of the city, had never played any political games and had done everything to the best of my ability.
Councillor Bradley asked me why I thought the event had been cancelled.
I thought this was a bizarre question for the Leader of the Council to suddenly ask - his own council had spent three months investigating what had happened and had just published its findings! To me, it showed he had no confidence in the report and was now effectively dis-owning it. This came too late for me of course - I had been publicly attacked by his council on Friday.
I told him that the Festival had been cancelled because of poor management by senior officers of the Culture Company who had failed to replace me when I had resigned three months earlier. They had never taken Mathew St seriously and didn’t realise the value of the event and how much people in Liverpool felt about it.
I also informed Councillor Bradley that, on at least two previous occasions, Culture Company Operations Director, Chris Green had told me and members of my Events team that he would be pleased if Mathew Street was cancelled as he could use the budget elsewhere.
I told Councillor Bradley that I had been shocked when I first heard Mathew Street had been cancelled. I had not expected it.
I reminded him that at his request in early August, I had tried to put together a rescue plan to get Mathew Street back on track but that the Chief Executive of the city council, Colin Hilton had abruptly refused to allow me to go ahead. I still did not understand why he had done this.
I pointed out the obvious - that far from being responsible for the cancellation of Mathew Street - I was the one who had done all in my power to try and save it.
I told him that I had been placed in ‘an impossible situation’ because of the battle between Culture Company chief exec, Jason Harborow and Councillor Storey over funding.
I was the ‘piggy in the middle’. There had been an attempt to ‘strip the budgets out’ – reduce the funding for Mathew Street - to prevent Councilllor Storey from getting what he wanted.
I also reminded both men that I had been replaced at meetings by Mr Harborow and that the Culture Company Steering Group regularly arranged pre-meetings in order, it seemed to me, to ensure only certain information was passed to Councillor Storey.
I said that during April, while trying to sort out the problems with Mathew St, I had also been producing the major Son et Lumiere event to celebrate Liverpool’s 8ooth birthday. This was a week-long event which Councillors Bradley and Storey had both wanted and which had forced an extremely damaging £100,000 cut in the Mathew St budget. Councillor Bradley asked me how many tickets had been sold for the Son et Lumiere shows. It had been a virtual sell-out - two shows a night for seven days, attracting between 5-6,000 people. Councillor Bradley asked where the proceeds had gone from ticket sales. I was surprised that he apparently did not know the established procedure for Culture Company ticket sales.
I explained that the tickets, which were priced at £2.50 each, had been sold through the 08 Place and Liverpool Direct (LDL). Originally LDL had wanted to charge the Culture Company an administration fee, per ticket, of £2.70. In other words, the cost of admin would have been higher than the ticket price itself.
The Culture Company had therefore agreed that LDL could take all the proceeds from ticket sales as their admin fee. Both Councillor Bradley and Councillor Storey appeared genuinely shocked. I was astonished that they appeared so out of touch and ignorant of what was going on.
Councillor Bradley then asked me if I had any information that would prove senior people in the Culture Company were involved in events leading up to the cancellation of Mathew Street.
He said: “Is there anything you can get us, to get rid of Harborow? To get him out? He must have been involved in it - although the report exonerates him.”
Councillor Bradley also asked if I could access Mr Harborow’s leave records – I assumed that he believed Mr Harborow was taking more holidays than he was entitled to.
I told Councillor Bradley that I had given a huge amount of information - in the form of emails and other documents - to the council’s inquiry, which had been ignored.
I had compiled a dossier as part of my claim for constructive dismissal which was now with my legal advisor. It would come out in public when a hearing took place.
I explained that I was also currently in negotiations with the council, through ACAS. If an out of court settlement was reached, the documents might be made available. I was non-committal about this – I needed to think it through – but told them I would consult my solicitor.
As I sat in Councillor Bradley’s living room sipping my beer, I remember being completely astonished that, two days after the council had tried to destroy my own reputation, the Leader of the Council and the former Leader of the Council were now trying to involve me in a conspiracy to remove the chief executive of the Culture Company.
I was shocked that such underhand dealings could go on. It seemed to be political skulduggery of the worst kind. I have never been involved in anything remotely like this at all before. Something was clearly seriously wrong and I felt extremely uncomfortable. I felt as though my integrity was being compromised and that undue pressure for information was now being placed upon me by people who had already once tried to destroy my reputation.
I did not have an axe to grind with anyone – I had resigned because I did not believe that Mathew Street could be delivered safely for the allocated budget and that the public were being put at risk. Now I was being drawn into something else - a conspiracy. I felt I was being used to try and get rid of someone and that there was a good chance that, if their plan ever went wrong, I would again be hung out to dry as the perpetrator. Neither Councillor Bradley nor Storey had been truthful and honest with me before – after Mathew St was cancelled, Councillor Bradley told me he was going to ensure that the council report would not blame me. He had not kept that promise, even though I had tried to rescue Mathew St.
On reflection now, I believe they must have both thought I was a complete ‘sucker’ and soft touch and that they could drag me into their conspiracy to get rid of Jason Harborow.
But at the time, I was a bit bewildered, totally confused and had extremely mixed emotions - I must have been in a state of profound shock.
Councillor Bradley then questioned me about a number of matters concerning Mr Harborow and Mathew Street and also asked what I knew about a company called Solutions and if Jason Harborow was involved with them.
I told him that Mr Harborow had told me that ‘Solutions’ – a merchandising company - were friends of his and that he had worked with them in the past.
I told the councillors that Solutions were now a preferred supplier to the city council. This meant that we had to use their services, even if we could get the same or similar goods cheaper from elsewhere – there was a general understanding about this

within the Culture Company.
Councillor Storey remarked: “It’s just like Liverpool Direct.” I understood him to mean by this that he thought it was a corrupt or suspect arrangement, although I personally do not know of any evidence for this.
I finally agreed that I would look and see if I had any other documentation about Mr Harborow. I left the meeting after almost two hours and we tentatively agreed to meet again.
The following morning, Monday 19th November, I telephoned Councillor Bradley and informed him that I had consulted legal advice and was unable to release any documents to anyone unless and until my case was satisfactorily settled.
I the undersigned, Lee Forde, declare this to be a true and faithful account of my meeting on Sunday November 18th, 2007 with Liverpool Council leader Cllr Warren Bradley and Regeneration leader Cllr Mike Storey.

Lee Forde

Thursday, November 29, 2007

THE STORM CLOUDS ARE GATHERING....

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

WORLD EXCLUSIVE - MATHEW ST EMAIL SENSATION : THEY ALL KNEW SIX MONTHS BEFORE!

CITY council leader Warren Bradley, birthday boy Mike Storey, chief executive Colin Hilton and Culture boss Jason Harborow all knew about the problems with Mathew Street at least SIX MONTHS before it was cancelled.

That is clear from a confidential email which, for some strange reason, was not included in the council's controversial and officially tampered-with report.

The email, written on February 28th, is by Culture Company Operations Director Chris Green to the Harbarrowboy.

It concerns the fateful meeting on February 21st when Green met with Fireman Bradley, Story-teller and CoverUp to update all three on Mathew Street.

Green explains to Harbarrowboy that the cost of the new outdoor event Storey wanted - Son et Lumiere - had risen to £160,000 and that the budget for Mathew Street would need to be cut by £100,000, as a result.

Green then tells the Harbarrowboy:

"Given that the closure of the Pier Head had already introduced logistical problems for operating Mathew Street at the same scale as previous years..."

So Harbarrow was obviously in the loop and knew that there were problems with staging Mathew Street again this year.

Green then outlines a re-vamped proposal for Mathew Street,which has been cut by £100,000.

Green says:

"This idea was presented to Warren Bradley, Colin Hilton and Mike Storey on 21 Feb and was not accepted. Warren and Mike felt strongly that we needed to find a way to run Mathew Street on Saturday and Sunday as well as Monday/Tuesday."

In other words, both Bradley and Storey were adamant that, despite the budget being cut by £100,000, Mathew Street should not be reduced from four days to a two day festival, as Green had proposed.

Fireman Bradley of course told the world that the first he knew of any problems with Mathew Street was when Hilton phoned him on holiday in July.

Not true Fireman.

Both CoverUp and the Fireman were at the same meeting in February when the problems were raised and proposals for reducing Mathew Street were put forward.

But according to Green's email, both the Fireman and Story-teller insisted that the Festival should go ahead as they wanted, despite them having cut the budget.

The email - which is reproduced in full below, demonstrates that both Bradley, Storey and Hilton too, have repeatedy and outrageously lied about their knowledge and involvement in the Mathew Street debacle.

The Harbarrowboy responds by promising Green that he will raise the issue at EMT - the city council's Executive Management Team which is chaired by Hilton, who reports to Bradley.

Perhaps Jase forgot to raise it?

Or perhaps Hilton was hiding under his desk with cotton wool stuffed into his ears?

Perhaps CoverUp had a severe attack of laryngitis and could not speak to Bradley about it for six months?

Perhaps someone could ask for the minutes of the EMT?

You may also find it strange, dear readers, that this email exchange is not included in the official report?

Why do you think it has not been included?

Perhaps the Gang of Four are suggesting that Green, who has since quit of course, is really the liar and that his email is a complete fabrication?

But what motive would he have to lie?

He wrote his email six months ago.

It is a contemporaneous account of what happened - as opposed to the convenenient memory loss apparently suffered now by Bradley, Storey, Hilton and Harbarrow.

This is the truth:

All four of them knew about the problems at least six months before Mathew Street was cancelled.

All four of them knew that the budget cuts had compounded the problems.

All four of them have repeatedly and consistently lied about their knowledge and involvement.

All four of them - because they are disgraceful , dishonourable and sickening cowards - have sought to blame Lee Forde for what went wrong.

Lee Forde is the one who has told the truth.

Lee Forde is the only man who has acted honourably.

And Lee Forde is the one who is now being scapegoated by these bastards.

Here is the email: Judge for yourselves.

-----Original Message-----

From: Harborow, Jason

Sent: 02 March 2007 00:06

To: Green, Chris

Cc: Forde, Lee

Subject: Re: MATHEW STREET FESTIVAL

I will raise at EMT

Jason Harborow

Chief Executive

Liverpool Culture Company

PO Box 2008

Municipal Buildings

Dale Street

Liverpool

L2 2DH

Tel: + 44 (0) 151 233 5441

Fax: + 44 (0) 151 233 6333

Web: www.liverpool08.com/www.liverpool.gov.uk<http://www.liverpool08.com/www.liverpool.gov.uk>Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008

----- Original Message -----

From: Green, Chris

To: Harborow, Jason

Cc: Forde, Lee

Sent: Wed Feb 28 11:31:01 2007

Subject: MATHEW STREET FESTIVAL

Jas,

I've reviewed the overall events budget and the operational options with Lee and the following is a statement of where we stand.

Do you want this to be put to the Strategic Steering group this week?

In the planning for 'one off' events for 2007 in the second half of lastyear we started to look at the feasibility of a major public event duringthe week commencing 23 April. The steering group agreed that we should progress the idea of a week long 'Son et Lumiere' event, the initial cost for which was estimated at c £70k. This was not in the year's budgets.

A more accurate costing has since produced a budget need for £160k.

This wasreported to the Mike Storey and he asked us to try to find a way of re-allocating budgets so that we could pay for this event and an increase in the budgets for the Pageant and Squares activity on 28th August.

Following the budget review at the Culture Co Awayday on 14th Feb all of the Events Budgets for 2007 had been reviewed and where possible savings made.

However, the only substantial budgets where significant savings were feasible were:

Mathew St Festival £500k

August 28th Fireworks £375k

Police Costs £250k

Given that the closure of the Pier Head had already introduced logistical problems for operating Mathew Street at the same scale as previous years, it was provisionally agreed that for 2007 Mathew St Festival could consist of five stages in and around the City Centre on Monday 27th August, with two ofthose stages being retained for the 'party' on Tuesday 28th August.

This would produce an estimated saving of £100k, which together with smaller scale savings fro some other event budgets would fund the 'Son et Lumiere'event.

This idea was presented to Warren Bradley, Colin Hilton and Mike Storey on 21 Feb and was not accepted.

Warren and Mike felt strongly that we needed to find a way to run Mathew Street on Saturday and Sunday as well asMonday/Tuesday.

Lee and I believe that if Mathew St is to remain in the City Centre there are only two realistic options and with both of these options there will still be a significant number of other agencies required to approve this before we go ahead.

Option 1

Two stages on Mann Island/the Strand for Saturday Sunday and Monday,increasing to five with the addition of Derby Square, Dale St and Williamson Square for Monday and the retention of the Derby and Williamson Square stages for Tuesday.

The main logistical issue here is the closing of the Strand for three days,which the police have already intimated will be objected to - not least byGrosvenor.

This would not produce any cost saving on the budget of £500k.

Option 2

A stage on St George's Plateau for Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday,with additional stages on the Strand and Derby Square for the Monday; DerbySquare to be retained for the Tuesday as well.

The main logistical issue with this option is that the capacity of St George's Plateau would be limited and it may require the closure of Lime Street at some times - this was objected to by Merseytravel last year.

This is unlikely to produce any saving on the budget of £500k.

We have looked at a third option where we operate MSF through indoor venues across the City on Saturday and Sunday and have the five stages as per Option 1 for the Monday, reducing to two on Tuesday 28th August.

However, this would require significant increase in admin effort to organise and ticket the events in venues and we do not believe the capacities exist in venues.

All bar venues already operate at full capacity and programme activity.

In terms of the major venues the only exception last year I think were the Royal Court and RLPO who in themselves would not produce enough capacity to deal with the expected crowds.

Conclusion

We have not been able to identify an option which would allow the festival to operate for 3 days and produce the saving needed to cover the costs of the Son et Lumiere event.

The only option therefore appears to be to reduce the budget for fireworks on the 28th August. However, this would undoubtedly create a serious PR issue if we were not seen to undertake a decent display.

Chris Green

Operations Director

Liverpool Culture Company

PO Box 2008

Municipal Buildings

Dale Street

Liverpool

L2 2DH

Tel: +44 (0) 151 233 1106

Fax: +44 (0) 151 233 6333

Mobile: + 44 (0) 7841 295 254

Web: http://www.liverpool08.com/ <http://www.liverpool08.com/>

Liverpool - European Capital of Culture 2008

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. Thank you

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

MATHEW STREET COVER UP CAPTION COMPETITION

Our picture shows the Four Tops - a defiant Lee Forde, a supportive Matt Finnegan, an astonished David Bartlett (DPost) and a world-weary Larry Neild (DPost/Radio City Talk) outside the Town Hall after the city council's sensational cover-up.

A ticket to the Mathew Street Festival 2008 for the best picture caption...

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Lee Forde is being made the scapegoat for Mathew Street - we demand the truth and the resignation of those responsible Petition

Friday, November 16, 2007

DAVID VERSUS GOLIATH: AN ASTONISHING SPECTACLE

And so it came to pass....

Congratulations firstly to Lee Forde for a brave and principled stand in the great traditions of David versus Goliath.

The shocked and angry expression on the face of Fireman Bradley today, as the media clustered around the city's former Events chief, was truly a delight to behold.

For some obscure reason, the Fireman and his accomplices, Story-teller and Cover Up, seemed to have forgotten that Lee Forde is a true son of the city.

Ie: he will take no shit from anyone.

These three powerful men resorted to secrecy, smears and lies to try and trash the reputation of one of the city's decent public servants.

They failed.

Mr Forde's reputation is today intact - because he employed weapons of truth, honesty and courage to defend himself.

A guilty man does not stand outside Liverpool Town Hall inviting the media to interrogate him.

A guilty man acts like Warren Bradley, hiding in the Town Hall and hurriedly scuttling away from the scene of his crimes.

(Or a guilty man swings in his hammock, munching ice creams and murmuring 'manana', eds)

Storey-teller, who has a streak of cowardice a foot wide running down the entire length of his missing spine, was, of course, nowhere to be seen at today's festivities.

Even though it was his £100,000 cut in the budget which prompted the entire Mathew Street debacle in the first place. Disgraceful.

Colin CoverUp, meekly cowering behind his desk in the MO like a third rate bureaucrat, was protesting that the Mathew Street Inquiry Report was "the Leader's report, not the city councils." What a weasel.

In a sense, however, CoverUp is correct. The inquiry report was not an official city council report at all.

It was a freelance work of fiction.

In terms of the extraordinarily inappropriate language used, its juvenile sniping tone, disgraceful manipulation of the facts and wholsesale misrepresentation of the evidence, it owed more to a dog-eared airport paperback, than an official report on behalf of Merseyside's biggest public body.

Of course, the report had been delayed for three months partly to allow Fireman Bradley and the Storyteller to hire hands from the PR world to re-write and spin it.

Contemptible.

It was an exercise in wholesale character assassination and scapegoating the like of which we have never seen in Liverpool before.

Neither Bradley, Storey, Hilton or the Harbarrowboy (laughing all the way to the bank in his Spanish hacienda, eds) were to blame for Mathew Street. It was all little Lee Forde's fault.

So outside Liverpool Town Hall today, it was, literally, David versus Goliath.

When is the great city of Liverpool ever going to have a civic leadership which is prepared to step forward and take responsibility for its actions?

With this gutless shower of Lib Dems? Never.

And now a word or two about our friends in the media....

(Here we go, eds)

The cancellation of Mathew Street was one of the worst public relations disasters - and most costly blunders - experienced by Liverpool for a generation.

But it was also the visible culmination of a catalogue of mismanagement, incompetence and stupidity from the Culture Company.

This organisation has been a shambles for the city ever since Sir Diddy hatched its misbegotten birth.

Nothing new here for the papers, then.

We simply ask of the media, especially our friends at the craven Echo: "Why did you not focus on the little man, the David battling the city council Goliath with all its huge resources, power and corruption?

"Why did you lazily and meekly reproduce the discredited conclusions of an obviously tampered report -and not give equal space to the accused?

"Why are you so far up yourselves, that you cannot see what is being done in the name, unbelievably, of local democracy in your own city?"

Timewasters.

What was news today was the truly shocking spectacle of Liverpool's current political and managerial leadership openly and cynically trying to shift the blame for Mathew Street onto the innocent.

These men have no shame. No conscience. No integrity.

Morally bankrupt. Emotionally vacant. Politically inept.

And, we vow, you won't escape that easily....

Monday, November 12, 2007

MATHEW STREET SENSATION: STORYTELLER THREATENS TO SUE CITY IF SECRET REPORT IS PUBLISHED

FORMER city council leader Mike Storey is threatening legal action to prevent the secret Mathew Street report being published.

Storey-teller has told the city council he will sue if they make the report available.

Why?

Because it is Storey who has been fingered by the report for giving the go-ahead for £150,000 to be cut from the Mathew Street budget.

The finger is also pointing at him for being present at a meeting with the Harbarrowboy when he was told the event would have to be cancelled.

Labour Leader Joe Anderson has already established that as far back as last November, Storey was warning that the Mathew Street Festival might need to be moved from the city centre to Sefton Park.

He was the least surprised person in the city when the Harbarrowboy gave Mathew Street the chop.

The secret report is amazingly now in the hands of an incredibly expensive top QC at Fireman Bradley's insistence.

It apparently makes it clear that Storey is ultimately responsible for cancelling Mathew Street.

So now the great Cover-up by Colin has become crystal clear (shome mistake, shurely? eds)

Chief executive Hilton has been protecting the Lib Dems from another monumental political disaster.

If the report is published it will immediately become clear that Storey-teller is heavily implicated in the Mathew Street debacle.

Storey would have to resign both as the city's regeneration boss and 700th Birthday Boy.

It would be a second political humiliation from which he could never recover.

And he would probably have to also go as a city councillor (Sir Diddy must be loving this, eds)

His resignation would be a hammer blow to the Fireman's credibility - Bradley has given constant preferment to Storey, who has always been his political mentor.

And it would be another astonishing political defeat for the deflated Lib Dems.

To misquote the immortal Oscar Wilde, losing Storey once may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose him a second time looks like carelessness....

Thursday, November 08, 2007

WHAT PRICE A LEGACY FOR 2008? WELL, £60,000 WILL DO VERY NICELY FOR ME, THANK YOU VERY MUCH....

LIVERPOOL 'Phil' boss Mick Elliott has trousered an extra £60,000 for spending two days a week with the Culture Company.

Astonishingly, Elliott is supposed to have been building a legacy for 2008!

But evidence of the "lasting legacy" which has been developed by energetic Elliott, chief executive of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic , has so far proved extremely difficult to find.

He is known instead for popping into the Fun Palace now and again, sitting dumbly in a few meetings and failing to make any creative contribution to proceedings.

So negligible has been been his impact, that one senior Culture Company official was recently overheard to ask in all seriousness "who is that grey man sitting in the corner who never says anything?"

Culture watchers have been astonished to learn that for his miserable and increasingly obscure 'efforts', Elliott has been rewarded with 60 grand of council taxpayer's money.

Readers will remember that Elliott was appointed to this specific role after one of the many Night of the Long Knives at the Culture Company Board.

Fireman Bradley then gave him direct responsibility for ensuring there was a legacy post 2008.

Council taxpayers already heavily subsidise the Phil of course - and Elliott's rumoured £200,000-a-year salary - to the tune of more than £1.3million every year.

So an extra £60,000 in Elliott's back pocket for not doing very much is neither here nor there really.

Just a drop in the ocean.

Meanwhile, the Culture Company has long since stopped talking about the 14,000 new jobs for Liverpool that were promised from 2008.

Nor does it mention the £1 billion worth of extra investment that it used to confidently forecast would be attracted to Liverpool.

Nor, especially after the Mathew Street debacle, does the Culture Company brag anymore about the millions of extra tourists who will supposedly be attracted to Liverpool by the 'best ever' Capital of Culture.

Indeed, the only eye-watering numbers that the Culture Company is now associated with is the millions of pounds in salaries which have been paid out like confetti to fat cats, failed PR agencies and cashing-in consultants.

Not to mention the tens of millions of pounds which have been wasted by the Harbarrowboy and Donald Bullshitter's mismanagement and incompetence.

Can any readers - or Mr Elliott's friends or supporters - please explain exactly what he has been doing to build a lasting legacy for Liverpool which has earned him such a princely sum?

We will be delighted to make the blog available for any further revelations....

Monday, November 05, 2007

THE CULTURE COMPANY: BACK TO THE FUTURE

Correction to e-blast information‏
From: 08 Ambassadors (register@liverpool08.com)

Sent: 05 November 2007 14:47:18
Reply-to: register@liverpool08.com
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dear Ambassadors,

Please note that the date for the Garden Party featured in yesterday's e-blast is incorrect. The correct date for this event is Saturday November 3, 2pm to 7pm.
We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused.
For further information please visit Liverpool08.com

Kind regards

Liverpool08

Friday, November 02, 2007

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE HARBARROWBOY....

The following is an amazingly funny interview with the Harbarrowboy in the city council's magazine, Council People. The ironies are delicious. So make yourself a brew, pull up a chair and enjoy. Our comments, are of course, in red....

Driving ambition
Council People may have met Jason Harborow out on the road on the 08 bus but his own ambitions - for the city and for himself - are more sky-high than just getting from A to B.
The Liverpool Culture Company chief tells us why this city is on a roll and how after a great 2008, 2009 and beyond will be just fine too! (Doesn't make sense, but let that pass)

For you where did the road to the Culture Company start? (ditto)
I left school at 16 and went on a Youth Training Scheme and began working as a lifeguard in a sports centre, so right from the start I have always worked in sport and leisure. I came to this part of the world to work for Wirral Borough Council and settled here. To be given a chance to be involved with what I consider to be my home city (despite the fact that I have a wooly back accent and wouldn't know one end of the city from another) was an opportunity too good to be missed.
I love work and I love what I am involved in now. (especially the huge dosh and the freebies)
Tell us about your school days. Were you a swot or a skiver?!
Neither really! (I was just a hairy-arsed blagger) I was good at sports and got through school being the best rugby player and the best sprinter and that enabled me to get round teachers in a way that I might otherwise not have been able to! I loved school and threw myself into school life in a big way. (Then I got excluded for trying to sell the other kids bikes at break-time)
I'm one of those sad parents who tells their children their school days are the best days of their lives! [Jason has a six-year old daughter as well as two stepchildren]. (although the Culture Company has been like a bloody kids playground ever since I was put in charge)
What's it like working in Liverpool?
Very challenging. Everyone knows everyone, (except we don't know who that Tony Parrish fella is) everybody's got an opinion on everything. These are all things that can conspire against you if you don't approach them in a positive way but if you do, it can also be your greatest strength. (and I can always fuck off to Spain with the proceeds anyway)
All eyes are on the Culture Company. How do you cope with some of the press coverage?
There's no other local organisation that has the scrutiny the Culture Company has. (This is me talking utter bollocks of course, but she is still writing it all down - we have got away with absolute murder. No one knows where all the money has gone. Lets keep it that way).That does come with its pressures and there are times when we feel that the criticism is not as fair as it could be but I have to keep the team motivated and keep them well informed so they don't find out things through the papers. (I am taking the piss here - staff get the mushroom treatment from me)
Generally, the media is very kind to us (especially since we have bought off the Echo, Post, Radio City and Murkeyside) and we have always got to take it on the chin. You're always going to have a mixture of good and bad and it's a question of being able to deal with it, of being mature. (So when things like Mathew Street happen, I won't go running away from the TV cameras like an overgrown schoolboy and then hide away in Spain counting my loot and pretending I have done nothing wrong.)
What has been the highlight since you've joined the Culture Company?
The way in which the perception of Liverpool has clearly changed. When I used to go down to London in 2004 you still used to hear all the old stereotypical jokes and comments whereas now we are looked upon as a serious operator, a grown-up city and are asked for advice and guidance. (I am really taking the piss now. We have, of course set back Liverpool's image for decades because of our mishandling and incompetence. No-one listens to us in Whitehall or Westminster. We have spent a fortune on personal PR for me and my mates in the Culture Company and it still hasn't worked. And we have betrayed the city and thrown away its best chance in a generation. But I am laughing all the way to the bank, suckers!)
Come 1 January 2009, what will Liverpool be left with, other than a sore head?!
08's main legacy will be confidence. (Did I really say that? And they have put it in the paper too! Gullible fools!) We need to be proud of what we have here and get used to talking it up like other cities which have undergone a big change like Manchester.
Also, I don't think we really understand yet the impact the Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool will have. (Chas will get very rich from it and will look after his mates)
You're now heading up the Culture, Media and Sport portfolio, what excites you about that?
I am lucky really, I've got the fun portfolio! (and £150 grand a year with 10 per cent Performance Related bonus every year. Its fookin fantastic. And I don't have to do a dickey bird except cock things up! The fireman and his fools have fallen for me getting a job with the council hook, line and sinker!) It's very high profile in that everything we do is public-facing. Coming up, we've got the new 50-metre pool opening and the refurbishment of Central Library. But our main job when 2009 arrives is that we don't slip into the situation where there's not as much happening as before. (This is meaningless gibberish, but she is writing down every fucking word I say, I can't believe it!! I hope she doesn't ask how many jobs will have been created, how many lives have been changed for the better, or how many deprived communites in Liverpool have been given new hope and investment. Because its a big, fat zero - unlike my bank balance. Bloody hell, what a great life I've got. Pass me a raspberry ripple, someone.)
Any ambitions left?
To get my pilot's licence. (And to fly away from here as fast as possible)
Where do you see yourself in 10 years' time?
Happy! And spending more time with my family. (Chillin' in the hacienda)

Labour MPs slam unholy Trinity Mirror over birth of Oldham Echo

Six Merseyside MPs have tabled a parliamentary motion calling on Trinity Mirror to stop the “haemorrhaging” of jobs from its offices in Liverpool.
It follows the announcement last month that 43 journalists were to be axed from the Liverpool Post and Echo.
In September more than 100 jobs were lost from the city when printing of the papers was moved to Oldham.
Cynics have now started referring to the Echo as 'The Oldham Echo.'
The Labour MPs who have tabled the Early Day Motion – a type of parliamentary petition – are Peter Kilfoyle (Liverpool Walton), Geroge Howarth (Knowsley North and Sefton East), Frank Field (Birkenhead), Edward O’Hara (Knowsley South), Ben Chapman (Wirral South), and Claire Curtis-Thomas (Crosby).
Read the full text of the motion.
MPs from all over the UK can support the EDM - certainly more Merseyside MPs should be encouraged to sign up.
Please find your MP and ask them to sign.

So if he is not Pete price, who is he?

PETE Price is not Pete Price, according to the Oldham Echo.
That is the sensational news revealed tonight by a man posing as the popular talk show host with City-Talk-but-no-one-listens.
Apparently, the Echo columnist is actually a total phoney. A fake. A charlatan. A rogue. A complete ****ing imposter!
Who would have thought it?
We hope this means that the Echo will now discontinue the phoney Mr Price's crap column forthwith.
If they want to fill the space they could give it to the real Pete Price and his excellent blog at http://peteprice967.blogspot.com/. Or Chucklebutty.
Tho we doubt whether either would ever be quite as funny as the Fake Pete Price.

Letting the Kat out of the bag....

Meanwhile in the Dale Street bunker, Colin CoverUp is trying to work out how to appoint a new team of bureaucrats to replace those that have scarpered with huge pay-offs.
High on his list of priorities, given the worst council in the country's 'wonderful' public image, is the £75,000-a year post of Director of Communications.
Head-hunters have been appointed to trawl for suitable candidates, but it appears that CoverUp could have avoided the ruinous extra cost of the interminable appointments procedure.
He has already let it be known that he reckons the successfull candidate can be found close to home.
Step forward Kathryn Smith, head of Internal Communications with the city council, who CoverUp has earmarked for the role.
Ms Smith is best known for her slavish loyalty to the dreaded rottweiller Dr David McElhinney and her unquestioning sycophancy to Sir Diddy.
She regularly produced astonishing 'motherhood and apple pie' tributes to the evil rottweiller and the greedy and corrupt Sir Diddy in the pages of Council People - the city council's staff magazine.
She has spent the last few months faffing about doing various obscure things with the Culture Company - which has obviously produced a noticeable upsurge in positive perceptions of the Capital of Cock Ups.
Quite how she will cope with the Oldham Echo is anyone's guess.
Nor can she be said to enjoy the full confidence of other communications colleagues who have long suspected her of being the 'spy in the camp' for the rottweiller.
Meanwhile the Lib Dims are scouring the country for a sympatyhiser who will accept their poisoned chalice.
Candidates were actively lobbying the Fireman during the Lib Dim conference, although admittedly their enthusiasm appeared to be directly related to their proximity to the bar and the lateness of the hour.
A battle royal (what, another one? eds) could erupt between supporters of Cover Up's chosen one and the Lib Dim favoured candidate.
But look forward to plumes of grey smoke from the MO building in the very near future as Ms Smith emerges promising a bright new dawn for the city council.
You read it here first...

Sign the No 10 petition for an independent investigation into the city council and LDL

A PETITION has been started on the No 10 Downing Street website calling for an independent investigation into the worst council in the country, LDL, etc, etc.
You can sign the petition here Go On, What Harm Can It Do - May As Well Let the Bastards Know That Some of Us Object To Their Actions.
You can read about the petition here too......
Liverpool City Council has been officially cited as the worst Local Authority in the country.
They are £62,000,000.00 in debt and that debt is rising.
Successive audits have shown significant failings in financial management.
A recent report from KPMG made thirty-seven recommendations regarding the contract with Liverpool Direct Limited.
It is imperative for the people of Liverpool that an impartial investigation be carried out by an incorruptible body accountable to Parliament.
The National Audit Office is the only organisation which has the authority to carry out a wide ranging, detailed and impartial investigation into the financial management of Liverpool and more specifically the relationship between the Local Authority and the companies Liverpool Direct Limited and Liverpool Schools Services Limited.
We therefore petition the Prime Minister to instruct Tim Burr - on behalf of Parliament - to send an investigation team to Liverpool with full powers to access and inspect any and all records and interview any and all persons whom they may deem necessary and to grant any persons giving evidence protection under the Public Interest Disclosure Act.

FIREMAN BRADLEY LIED TO RADIO MERSEYSIDE LISTENERS (AGAIN)

Fireman Bradley lied to BBC Radio Merseyside listeners about the Lib Dem's closure of Leighton Dene and Boaler St old folks homes.
That's according to the independent Commission for Social Care Inspection - and Tony Hunter, the city council's own Director of Social Services!
The Fireman was being questioned on the wireless by Roger Phillips about his city council's closure of the centres, which provide respite care for the victims of dementia and Alzheimers.
To try and justify these digraceful closures, Bradley told Phillips: "Probably 90 per cent of local authorities in the country still don't provide that sort of care and it was highlighted via the inspectors that Liverpool maybe shouldn't be doing this as part of the core business."
Labour MP Jane Kennedy wrote to the Commission for Social Care Inspection to ask if they had suggested - or made any comment at all either in writing or verbally - about Liverpool city council not providing such care in their inspection reports, known as Performance Assessment Notebooks.
Er............. no, came back the reply from Chief Inspector Paul Snell.
Or to be more specific:
"I can confirm that there is no evidence in either the council's Performance Asessment Notebook or any other performance related correpondence we hold that supports any such comments having been made.
"The Business Relationship Manager for Liverpool is adamant that such comments have not been made verbally or in writing," he added.
Then Mr Snell helpfully volunteered the following: "We have also contacted the Director of Adult Social Services (the aforementioned Mr Hunter) for Liverpool City Council, who has confirmed our understanding."
It appears therefore, that even one of Colin CoverUp's overpaid army of bureaucrats didn't have the brass neck to try and dig Bradley out of the hole he had dug for himself.
So, under the relentless Paxman-like Radio Merseyside questioning, fireman Bradley (typically) opted to lie about the views of an independent Inspectorate - in a desperate attempt to try and justify the Lib Dem closures of Boaler St and Leighton Dene.
Cowardly hypocrite.

Lorna departs with £45,000 in her handbag - after costing Liverpool half a million

FORMER BBC producer Lorna Dickinson has been told to clear her desk at the Capital of Culture Fun Palace after failing to deliver anything for the Sir Paul McCartney concert.
But, true to form for all CoC failures, she is being paid off to the tune of £45,000 of council taxpayers money.
That's on top of the more than a half a million quid that she has cost Liverpool for pissing about for the last 18 months.
Dickinson was the genius behind the now legendary Salthouse Dock scheme (Liverpool Subculture, passim) which cost council taxpayers £330,000.
Then of course, there is the £100,000 a year in consultancy fees which she has been slipping into her purse for holding a series of interminable meetings and twiddling her thumbs doing, frankly, fuck all.
So now she has been put forward as Hon.Pres of the Fuck Up and Fuck Off Brigade (proposed: Sir David Henshaw, seconded: The Harbarrowboy).
Dickinson has been unceremoniously given two weeks to tidy her desk and try to account for the dozens of transatlantic flights, champagne lunches and dinners which she treated herself to in her globe-trotting quest to take the piss out of Liverpool.
The cot of this is already rumoured to be in the region of £80,000.
Shame that the penny only dropped with CoverUp after her profligacy was finally exposed by the Liverpool Subculture blog.
(Some minion brings CoverUp regular print-outs).
Interstingly, her former colleagues at the Beeb appear to be trying to fight a rearguard action in her defence, claiming that she was given the push for blowing the whistle on the Culture Company's transatlantic junketing.
As if.....

The Curse of Culture........

As European Capital of Culture 2008, this is Liverpool's most important year for a generation, goes the oft-repeated spin.
So have you noticed how many senior people/fat cats are departing before 2008 is out and all the glossy brochures have even been sent for recycling?
Do they all know something we don't?
Has the Titanic already hit the iceberg?
Or is it something more sinister?
Let us examine the evidence.....
Drummond BoneHead, Chair of the Culture Company - leaving Liverpool in June.
Jason Harbarrowboy, chief executive of the Culture Company - forced to quit in January.
Loyd Grossman, Chairman of National Museums and Galleries - leaving in June after a fall-out with the irredeemably boring Museums boss, David Fleming.
Sue Woodward, former Deputy Chair of the Culture Company - resigned from Granada TV after being kicked off the Culture Board by a typically ungrateful Our Lord Redmond and quietly-spoken Bryan Gray.
Mick Elliott, Chief Executive of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and pocketing £60,000 for working two days a week at the Culture Company - resigned to go to the DCMS.
Not to mention Robbing Archer, Sir Diddy, Chris Green.
(You said you wouldn't mention them, eds)
Why have all these people, who have all been so prominently associated with Capital of Culture 2008, ended their Scouse sojourns so prematurely?
This is getting spooky....
Could it possibly be......
The Curse of Culture??
And if so, who will be next to fall victim to The Grim Reaper?
Dare we suggest it might be Fireman Bradley?

FIREMAN'S INTERVIEW WITH ROGER PHILLIPS, AFTER COUNCIL RANKED THE WORST FINANCIALLY RUN

Roger: This is not a good report for us is it Warren?
Fireman:Well Roger we’ve got to put it into perspective really haven’t we and remember where Liverpool was and that’s not thinking back 10 years. Liverpool has come an awful long way. The people of Liverpool were asking for lower Council Tax and the Liberal Democrats have delivered that and they also wanted better services and you look at the services that are now delivered by Liverpool City Council. If we look at the most vulnerable either elderly or the Children’s Services the social care we are now delivering at a level that Liverpool has never delivered before. We also look at the bread and butter your schools, your sports centres, your libraries, One Stop Shops in communities, our parks, we’ve got 13 green flag parks. It’s like a new home to me when you get an old dilapidated derelict building you’ve got to bring it up to a standard and I think Liverpool City Council under the Liberal Democrats have certainly done that and I am certain if we did a survey of people in the City do you want Liverpool City Council to sit on £20m worth of reserves or do you want the City Council delivering front line services that affect the most vulnerable and people’s lives in the City. I think that they would vote with their feet and say that we support the policies of Liverpool City Council. We’ve got to look at the financial regulations put in by Government and if you want my opinion about this Roger it is purely political.
Roger: Well come on, you know the Audit Commission is not a political body
Fireman: Well with respect Roger and I would beg to differ on that
Roger: Well how can it be a political, it’s an independent organisation?
Fireman: We can say everything is independent to a certain extent but you know you look at what we’ve got at the moment in Liverpool and we’re delivering top quality services.
Roger: But the problem with this is that you’ve got an overall score rating of 2 which was adequate performance into 05, overall score in 06 was 2 which is adequate performance.
This year it is down to 1 below minimum requirements inadequate performance.
Fireman: Based around financial regulations…
Roger: Yes I’m talking about the financial…..
Fireman: Laid down by government. I mean that’s what you’ve got to remember. Don’t try and muddy the waters and say oh this is about Liverpool City Council and their overall performance. It’s not. You look at the issue that we’ve done about achievements. Liverpool scoring 3-4 on achievement at the moment through the Audit Commission.
Roger: I didn’t know that.
(EDs: Pitiful, just pitiful.)
Fireman: And we do seem to always go to the negatives when we’re looking for something like this.
Roger: The District Auditor was pretty negative about you wasn’t he and…
Fireman: No, I have got to say Roger I would love to have £50m in reserves. I would also love not to have to put additions of £7m into adult social care and £2-3m into children’s social care. The facts are we have got to do that because of the pressures that are on Liverpool at the moment.
Roger: So are other Councils….
Fireman: I’m not willing as Leader of this Council to take away care to the most vulnerable to allow it to sit in reserve. I am not willing to do that and I will go to the stake on that the people of the City. Liverpool now is only one of a handful of Councils up and down the country that is providing moderate care to the most vulnerable people in the City. Now to give people an idea of what moderate care is that is home care. These people who’ve got no family to support them and require a visit in the morning or a visit in the evening to make sure they’re ok to help them to take the pills, to make sure that they’ve got the food. Most Councils up and down this country have removed that care. Liverpool City Council is still allowing our most vulnerable people our sort of care. Now is that wrong, is that wrong?
Roger: Now no one would argue that’s wrong but everyone. But many people are affected by housing. Housing is really poor isn’t it. I mean you are so poor you’ve had to hand it over to a different group to run it.
Fireman: Well with respect Roger, with respect, you’ve got to know what the Housing Corporation have done and in partnership with the Government again it’s easy to say it’s the Council, in partnership with the Government we’ve tackled head on through the Pathfinder areas of the inner core of the City some of the housing inefficiencies of the City. That hasn’t happened over the last five years that’s happened over 30 or 40 years. The problems in Norris Green in housing were prevalent 30 or 40 years ago and weren’t tackled. As an Authority we’ve challenged what wasn’t tackled and we’ve challenged it head on and I opened a couple of weeks ago with Flo Clucas and Marilyn Fielding with Cobalt Housing the first phase of Norris Green. We’ve transformed that area and its got houses for sale and social housing in Norris Green that people are seeking to live in now. We’ve got in a core Edge Hill, Kensington, Kirkdale the same issues that have been there for 30 or 40 years that we’re tackling now hand in hand with the Government. I’m not taking the credit for it and the Government isn’t. We’ve got a schools’ programme that is second to none. Liverpool’s young people are now achieving at the national average. I want it higher than national average to give new opportunity but again I’ll say I’m not going to suit accountants’ financial regulations in London and leave £millions sitting in reserve while we have still got the challenges Liverpool has got and I think people you know.
Roger: Do you think it was a mistake to keep Council Tax down or freeze it over the past few years?
Fireman: Well isn’t it ironic Roger how last week John Healey said how Liverpool is charging £101 a head...
Roger: Because its inefficiencies….
Fireman: Well we have taken £150m worth of inefficiencies out of our budget over the last 10 years. We’ve kept Council tax down which is exactly what Government policy is and is exactly what John Healey is saying. Councillor Joe Anderson is saying something completely different to the people of Liverpool that he will put taxes up to build reserves to put in reserve well again this administration this Lib Dem administration is not going to tax for the sake of taxing to leave money sitting in reserve. We will build up the reserves over a period of years and then we will be able to tackle some of the other issues that we’ve got to do. We recognise the health inequalities. To improve health inequalities we’ve got to have a real stable economy offering real opportunity and raising the aspirations in them poorer communities. You cannot do that leaving millions and millions of pounds laying in reserves and this administration will continue the robust financial management that we’ve done. We’ll carry on delivering…
Roger: If it was that robust we wouldn’t have this problem of £20m overdrawn on Capital of Culture.
Fireman: Roger, lets put things into hindsight. We are still delivering front line services. We are still…
Roger: It’s about £20m overall that we’re short this year – now that’s not robust management
Fireman: But Roger we are going through a budget setting process. Every Local Authority up and down the country is in the same process as us. I remember reading about Wirral being £50m short. Other Local Authorities. I meet the core city leaders who are £40-£50m short exactly the same as Liverpool . And let’s not forget I haven’t come on here to knock the Government I’ve come on here to say that I believe we’ve got a robust financial programme in place that is going to deal with the shortfall. We’ve delivered year on year but I’ll say again I am not going to allow millions and millions of pounds to lay in reserve. Cut front line services to the most vulnerable and then say that’s acceptable. Nor as Leader of this Council am I going to allow Council Tax to go through the roof again which will drive the inability to bring further investment into this City. While the Lib Dems have been in control we’ve brought Council Tax down, we’ve brought renewed confidence and we’ve brought real investment that will bring opportunities to the most vulnerable and I think that is the most important and I think the people of this City will stand full square with us on that. I’m proud of what we’ve delivered in this City over the last 10 years and Capital of Culture is part of that."
AND NOT A WORD ABOUT THE BARROWBOY'S PAY-OFF...

Robyn Archer - AN APOLOGY

In a previous post by Tony Parrish in 2006, it was claimed that the Liverpool Culture Company's former Artistic Director, Robyn Archer had left the company and returned to Australia with an £80,000 pay-off.
We now accept that this report was untrue.
We would like to withdraw the post on behalf of Mr Parrish and apologise unreservedly to Ms Archer for any embarrassment that was caused to her personally or any damage caused to her reputation.
We would also like to offer our sincere apologies to both the Liverpool Culture Company and Liverpool city council for publishing an inaccurate report on our web log and for implying that they would be careless or reckless with council taxpayers money.
We have been asked to make clear that, in fact, the pay-off to Ms Archer was substantially more than £80,000.
She was, in fact, paid off to the end of her contract in 2008.
This means that she was given £150,000 for 2007 and £150,000 for 2008.
To this should also be added £75,000 - half her annual salary of £150,000 for the remainder of 2006.
We would therefore like to make clear that Ms Archer in fact pocketed £375,000 from the council taxpayers of Liverpool.
We apologise for any embarrassment caused by our original mistake.

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT AND WORKERS CONTROL: WE HAVE TAKEN OVER TONY"S BLOG

Tony's Parrishioners have now taken over the Liverpool subCulture blog after persuading TP that the Mathew Street debacle was just cause for re-emergence.
Our aim will be to toughen up his rather mealy-mouthed and polite critiscisms with some proper full-blooded attacks.
We will expose even more of the evil doings of the cabalists, Colin 'Cover Up' and the Harbarrowboy's s band of incompetent dick-heads and divvies.
And we shall ensure the lousy Lib Dems who have let them get away with ripping off the people of Liverpool and taking the piss out of the city, do not escape.
THEY HAVE BEEN WARNED....

WANTED! HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?

THE PEOPLE"S BLOG - BANNED BY THE CITY COUNCIL

Liverpool city council has banned council employees from accessing this blog on their work computers. Worse than that, they have also prevented the people of Liverpool - who pay the council's wages - from accessing this blog on computers in public libraries or in One Stop Shops.
But our voice will not be silenced.
We will not be gagged.
Nor will we be prevented from exposing the corruption, double dealing and rotteness at the heart of the city council and its offspring - the Liverpool Culture Company.

Letter from Colin CoverUp to city council employees following recent press reports

ARISE SIR PHIL! - A knighthood for Our Lord Redmond

LIB DEMS ON TRIAL (PART 2) - "You realised you had been rumbled...."

LIB DEMS ON TRIAL (PART 1) - ROTTEN TO THE CORE ....(courtesy of the Daily Post)

Hasitall should be forced to repay the half a million quid to council taxpayers

Tony's Parrishioners

NEW SERIES: Our Lord Redmond writes exclusively for Liverpool SubCulture

Subscribe to subCulture

Well done - you're sacked!!!!!

Forget Foghorn Leggatty and Our Lord Redmond - there can be only one choice for Elected Mayor!!!!!

Twigger is the last to twig that the postman doesn't ring twice

SALTHOUSE DOCK: A PUBLIC APOLOGY

We got it wrong....

OUR LORD REDMOND'S FAVOURITE BENCH - MILLIONS TAKE PART IN EXCLUSIVE ECHO PHONE VOTE

Labels

BENCHMARK? A PAIN IN THE ARSE FROM OUR LORD REDMOND....

Do you wish to see serious disciplinary action taken by the Lib Dem city council against Jason Harborow and AED Chris Briggs over fixing the appearance of SIRENZ at the 2006 Mathew Street Festival?

PART 4 OF LEE FORDE"S DOSSIER - THE FIREMAN GETS AN UPDATE, BUT DOES NOTHING

THE "FUCK UP AND FUCK OFF" BRIGADE - AND HOW MUCH THEY COST COUNCIL TAXPAYERS

LIVERPOOL DESERVES BETTER THAN THIS - by LEE FORDE

CAST OF CHARACTERS

INTERNATIONAL NEWS! BUENOS DIAS SENOR!!!!

HENSHAW ESCAPES.....

HEADLINE HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2008 - the best stories about 2008. Click on your favourite headline....

HENSHAW THE HYPOCRITE DOES A RUNNER - AFTER BLAMING EVERYONE ELSE FOR LIVERPOOL...

Uncertain? Isolated? Not a friend in the world?

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Monday, December 24, 2007

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Friday, December 14, 2007

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Friday, November 30, 2007

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Friday, November 16, 2007

Monday, November 12, 2007

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Monday, November 05, 2007

Friday, November 02, 2007

How the council use Ripa to spy on you....

Random Photos

Labour MPs slam unholy Trinity Mirror over birth of Oldham Echo

Storey for Lord Mayor? The nation votes....

Subscribe to Liverpool Subculture

So if he is not Pete price, who is he?

The best blogs for Liverpool

Letting the Kat out of the bag....

Sign the No 10 petition for an independent investigation into the city council and LDL

VOTE IN OUR EXCLUSIVE POLL

SIGN UP FOR THE LATEST FROM LIVERPOOL SUBCULTURE

Bradley lies to worried old people

FIREMAN BRADLEY LIED TO RADIO MERSEYSIDE LISTENERS (AGAIN)

Labour goes on-line to kick out the Lib Dims

VOTE ON THE NEXT LIB DIM LEADER

Click below to see Labour's ON-LINE CAMPAIGN against the Lib Dims

Lorna departs with £45,000 in her handbag - after costing Liverpool half a million

The Curse of Culture........

FIREMAN'S INTERVIEW WITH ROGER PHILLIPS, AFTER COUNCIL RANKED THE WORST FINANCIALLY RUN

WIRRAL EXCLUSIVE: Due to public demand, Professor Chucklebutty now has his very own blog!

THIS BLOG IS OFFICIALLY BANNED BY LIB DEM RUN LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL (we are proud to say)

STAND UP FOR FREE SPEECH ON THE INTERNET

Robyn Archer - AN APOLOGY

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT AND WORKERS CONTROL: WE HAVE TAKEN OVER TONY"S BLOG

COUNT DOWN TO JAN 20, 2009

HOPE FOR AMERICA

Don"t let the evil cabal and their accomplices get away with it...

WANTED! HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?

Tony Parrish 2008

Archive

Discerning Visitors to LiverpoolsubCulture

Other good places

PAY ATTENTION !

Click on this map to see where Liverpool subCulture visitors come from...

CONTRIBUTORS

THE PEOPLE"S BLOG - BANNED BY THE CITY COUNCIL