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.
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

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


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