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CLEIN'S VERDICT ON FIREMAN BRADLEY AND THE STOREYTELLER: 'CRASS....... STALINIST.......INTOLERABLE.....DISGRACEFUL......SMALL CLIQUE IN POWER...."

WE can now bring you (highlighted below) the full text of Education boss Paul Clein's resignation letter, thanks to the Liverpool Confidential web site.
His devastating letter echoes many of the accusations against Fireman Bradley and the Storeyteller which the Liverpool SubCulture blog has been alone in publicising over the last 16 months.
You never read any of this in the Echo before did you? Or on Radio Merseyside?
That's no surprise.
We now feel vindicated. We told you so. We have been right all along.
But no-one should forget what has caused both Clein's resignation and Firth's deselection - the debacle over Mathew Street.
Bradley and Storey and Harbarrow and Hilton all ducked responsibility for the biggest PR disaster in Liverpool's recent history.
Instead they sought to put the blame on little Lee Forde's shoulders.
And the Echo, Radio Merseyside, Radio City and the rest of the cowardly media - with one or two notable exceptions - were willing accomplices in that shocking miscarriage of justice.
They failed to hold those responsible properly to account.
They failed to carry out their duty as guardians of the public interest and the public purse.
They failed to examine in any detail all of the circumstances leading up to the Mathew Street fiasco.
So you will well understand why the Liverpool subCulture blog won't be taking any lectures from the media.
Lee Forde has been entirely vindicated by Clein's resignation and Firth's de-selection.
We hope it is some comfort to him for the way the city council tried to destroy his reputation and his career.
Now it is for the people of Liverpool to make the real judgment on the way their city has been run by this complete shower of bastards.

Clein's letter (and some choice extracts):

"I have been considering my position since late November 2007......" (publication of doctored Mathew Street report)

"I went along with a number of policies about which I had misgivings......"

"I feared right from the start when Storey was handed a specially created Cabinet position.....that the fallout from the Henshaw/Storey split would become self-perpetuating....that appointment by Warren was a crass decision...."

"Stalinist treatment of Firth.....intolerable and utterly illiberal.......engineered for having the audacity to ask the Group Leader entirely legitimate questions over a matter (Mathew St) whose fallout threatens the long-term interests of our group. (Where is Warren's promised writ to the Daily Post by the way? I think we should be told.)

"The colleagues who perpetrated this should hang their heads in shame. They have betrayed basic principles....disgraceful episode.....my position is untenable....."

"A small, increasingly illiberal clique in positions of power........whose main focus seems.......obsessive revenge."

PS. Notice how Clein focuses on Bradley's empty threats to take the Daily Post to the Press Complaints Commission? The Post - one of the few notable exceptions - had the audacity to accurately report Bradley's lies over Lee Forde and Mathew Street and his Perroni Plot with the Storeyteller against the Harbarrowboy. Bradley has not issued a writ against the Post. And he won't be issuing a writ against the Post. Because he lied to them. That's the Leader of the great city of Liverpool, for you.

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

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

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....

THE LIVERPOOL '08 TOP TWENTY

We have been reading in the Echo that Phil 'the great grey hope' Redmond has unveiled his secret weapon to make Liverpool No 1 in 2008.

Apparently, there is to be a new "Song For Liverpool" to mark our very special year.

(What a fantastically original and creative idea, absolutely guaranteed to engage and involve the people of Liverpool, eds)

And it's going to be a joint production by the Culture Company, (unholy)Trinity Mirror, Radio Murkeyside and City.

Doesn't that make your heart sink, pop pickers?

The song is destined, we fear, to be 'bubbling under' for a very long time (rather like our Salthouse Dock fish, ed)

Far better, in our view, to produce something which will be truly unique, distinctive and popular.

What about a once-in-a-lifetime Liverpool '08 compilation CD?

Featuring memorable cover versions of our favourite hits - but sung by some of the city's contemporary and most respected figures.

Mark Ronson could produce it - and blog readers could contribute the song titles and suggest the local personalities best equipped to perform!

It could be our very own version of the Liverpool X Factor!

So, to get the ball rolling and your creative juices flowing, might we make some suggestions about our very own top twenty?

THE LIVERPOOL '08 TOP TWENTY

1) We Don't Talk Anymore - Cllr Warren Bradley & Jason Harbarrowboy
2) It Should Have Been Me - Cllr Mike Storey(teller)
3) The Sound of Silence - Colin 'Cover Up' Hilton
4) Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - Phil Redmond
5) People Get Ready - Claire McColgan
6) Say it Ain't So, Joe - Paul 'Randy' Newman (in the chart with a bullet, eds)
7) Art for Art's Sake (Money for God's Sake) - Phil Halsall, the smiling assassin
8) Life in a Northern Town - The Residents (of L4, L5, L6, L8…etc etc, eds)
9) Y Viva Espana - Jason Harbarrowboy (solo performance, eds)
10) I Shoulda Known Better - Roger Phillips
11) She's Gone - Robbing Archer
12) Take The Money And Run - Sir David 'Diddy' Henshaw
13) Happy Talk - Alistair Machray (Echo Editor, eds)
14) Let's Dance - Flo 'quick, quick' Clucas
15) The Great Pretender - Kris Donaldson (Donald Bullshitter)
16) Hanging on the Telephone - Carolyn 'snitch' Hughes

17) Starman - Tony Parrish

18) I Wanna Be Elected - Liam Fogarty

19) Hound Dog - Dr David 'rottweiller' McElhinney

20) How Long Has This Been Going On? - The people of Liverpool

Bubbling under: Born To Run (Chris Green), Money's Too Tight to Mention (Sir Diddy), These Foolish Things (Matt Finnegan), Suspicious Minds (Lee Forde), I Fought The Law (Rex Makin), You Better Go Now (Joe Anderson)

It's something which everyone can join in!

Send your song suggestions to the blog, nominating your personality songster.
We will ensure that the Culture Company spends millions of pounds of council taxpayers' money on hiring record studios and top notch producers for the CD.

Thanks L&J!

POSTCARD TO THE CULTURE COMPANY FROM THE HARBARROWBOY

Dear all,

I couldn't get any answer from Liverpool Direct, so I decided to send you a postcard instead. Probably a lot quicker.

I am having a lovely time here on the Costa Del Tanningmybacksideoff, sipping Pina Coladas.

I gather from that skinny fella who is our Communications Director - I've forgotten his name - that the Daily Post would like to interview me this week about the forthcoming 'Not the Mathew Street Festival.'

Can you just tell them that I have nipped out of the office for a quick sandwich and will be back soon?

Please don't let them find out that i have gone off on my jollies, just as everything is going pear-shaped.

If the Post are really desperate for some answers, can you get two of the girls to get off their arses and give the Post an exclusive interview about the programme for next year.

They don't need to say anything new - just the usual vague and empty promises will do.

Something along the lines of "world-beating....stunning events....Jase working his socks off...worth every penny, etc, etc." The usual bollocks.

We could even mention Pete Postlethwaite again, if we are really desperate.

Also can we slip in somewhere that the announcement about the 2008 programme will be in November, rather than next month as we originally promised?

No-one will notice and it will give me a bit more time to try and get Maccas phone number from someone who met him when he last came to Lipa.

By the way, has anyone seen the forgetful fireman recently? I hear he wants to be known as Hawkeye from now on because he will be keeping a beady watch on us all.

He may be watching us like a hawk, but he is still parrotting the same platitudes.

Perhaps he should be called The Parrott instead?

Have internal audit finished going through all my emails yet as part of their so-called "investigation"?

I wonder if they will find the emails I sent to Warren about the problems with Mathew Street? He now appears to have conveniently forgotten them - perhaps he doesn't look at his emails anymore after what happened to Storey-teller?

Anyway, I'm sure 'Cover Up' will make sure Bradley sees only what he wants him to see.

I hope all the fuss has finally died down now about that little Beatles event that we cancelled? It was crap anyway.

I imagine the Echo will have gone back to its daily diet of crime and second rate celebrities - I'm sure we could suggest a few names who could help them out on that if they need any more?

Anyway, time to go - I've got to have a look at some new property.

See you for the birthday party - Storey will be back from his jollies then too!

lots of love,

Jase xxx

- Pass the sun oil can you, darling?

INFORMATION COMMISSIONER FINDS CITY COUNCIL GUILTY OF BREAKING LAW OVER CONFIDENTIAL EMAILS

PRESS RELEASE: CITY COUNCIL GUILTY OF BREAKING LAW OVER EMAILS – OFFICIAL 4/06/07

LIVERPOOL city council broke the law by publishing confidential emails between its former Leader and communications chief.
The Information Commissioner has found the city council guilty of breaking the ‘First Principle’ of the Data Protection Act, 1998 - that the publication of any personal information should be ‘fair and lawful.’
The Commissioner upholds an official complaint by Matt Finnegan, the city council’s former Assistant Executive Director (Media), who had accused the council of acting unlawfully in first publicising the confidential emails two years ago.
In the emails, the then Council Leader Mike Storey, instructed the council’s media chief to publicise his opposition to a £240,000 pension deal for the council’s chief executive Sir David Henshaw, who had announced his early retirement.
A report containing the emails was sent to all 90 city councillors in May 2005, after the Liverpool Daily Post reported that the chief executive was demanding Councillor Storey’s resignation.

The draft report, drawn up by Executive Director Phil Halsall - the council’s Section 151 Officer - also contained details of Mr Finnegan’s mobile phone calls and text messages, as well as the emails.
Mr Finnegan submitted his complaint to the Information Commissioner immediately after quitting his job last September, accusing the council of waging a vendetta against him for obeying the instructions of the council’s democratically-elected Leader.

Mr Finnegan’s teenage daughter, who was also identified in Mr Halsall’s report, also submitted a separate formal complaint.
The Information Commissioner has now upheld both complaints, ruling that the council acted illegally.

In his adjudication to Mr Finnegan, the Commissioner says: “It is clear that the decision was taken to distribute the full contents of the Draft Report somewhat prematurely, in response to ‘media pressure’, which we believe was unfair to you.
“It is therefore our view that Liverpool City Council has breached the First Principle of the Data Protection Act 1998 in this instance. Whilst it is acknowledged that this is perhaps an extraordinary case in terms of the nature of events which occurred, and the high profile of the individuals who were involved, the disclosure, having been circulated at such a premature time, was still unfair.”
The Commissioner warns that publication by the council of the report may also have compromised any further disciplinary proceedings it brought.
He adds: “Whilst it is unlikely that this specific situation would arise again in the future, we shall be pointing out to the Council that they do have a general duty to ensure that the processing of all personal data complies with the provisions contained within the Data Protection Act 1998.
“In light of this, the Council may wish to review the actions which were taken in this case and consider whether it may be appropriate to implement further measures in order to prevent a similar event from occurring again in the future.
“The Commissioner would hope that once this contravention of the Act has been brought to the attention of the Council, steps will be taken to rectify the situation.”
Mr Finnegan is now calling for the council to take legal action against Sir David Henshaw, currently chair of the North West Strategic Health Authority, for contravening the Data Protection Act and to suspend Mr Halsall, who is still employed by the council, pending a full investigation into his actions.
Mr Finnegan said: “These two men broke the law. There is no argument about that. At the time, Mr Henshaw even issued an astonishing public statement welcoming the illegal report and praising his own integrity! The council should now show that it is cleaning up its act by taking appropriate action against both men and any others who were party to this decision. Proven law-breakers such as these should not be in charge of any public service for a moment longer.”
Mr Finnegan added: “My complaint to the Information Commissioner was the first of 38 grievances which I had first submitted to the council, for breaching their own internal rules and procedures. The current chief executive, Colin Hilton dismissed them out of hand.
“I am pleased however, that the Information Commissioner takes a very different view from Mr Hilton and has not allowed such illegal actions by very senior employees to be covered up.
“I am also grateful to the Daily Post for making public the astonishing events in Liverpool at the time. In my view, there was an attempted coup by certain officers against the democratically elected Leader, using emails which had been illegally obtained.
“This is a small, if belated, victory for democracy and is a vindication of my actions in obeying the Leader of the Council. I never broke the law – Mr Henshaw and Mr Halsall did. The council will never again be able to get away with treating employees like me with such flagrant contempt for both the law and their own internal rules and procedures.
“If the council had any decency it would now issue an abject public apology to both me and my daughter for acting illegally. But we won’t be holding our breath.
“It has been a sorry and shameful little episode linked directly to the huge pension claim of Mr Henshaw. That began a train of events which have caused significant harm to the public image of the city of Liverpool and have damaged people’s confidence in public servants and public service. I hope the council now deeply regrets breaking the law of the land.”

THE LIVERPOOL SUBCULTURE CHRISTMAS QUIZ TO END THEM ALL...

1) Who said: "McElhinney should be banged up in Walton jail"

Was it:

a) Councillor Warren Bradley
b) Councillor Mike Storey
c) Matt Finnegan
d) Mrs McElhinney
e) All of the above

(We have included two pictures of Walton so we can all see what McElhinney is missing, ed)


2) How many times did former chief executive, Sir Diddy announce his early retirement in March 2005, before he changed his mind?

a) Just the once to the Daily Post
b) Twice - both times to the Daily Post
c) Three times - twice to the Daily Post and once to the Liverpool Echo
d) He never announced his early retirement at all, that was all made up by Matt Finnegan, the city council's media chief and poor Sir David has ever since been the victim of a disgraceful smear campaign of public abuse, vile attacks and disgraceful misrepresentation of a fine, upstanding, noble-minded, public servant whose only crime has been to serve the people of Liverpool above and beyond the call of duty (steady on, ed).3) Who pleaded with Matt Finnegan on the day after the media chief was suspended on trumped up charges: '"Please don't tar us all with the same brush"?

a) Sir Diddy
b) The rottweiller, McElhinney
c) The smiling assassin, Halsall (above)
d) Chas Cole
e) Jolly Jack










4) Who said: "I will have to resign if they are threatening my job"?

a) Sir Diddy
b) Councillor Mike Storey
c) Matt Finnegan
d) The rottweiller
e) The smiling assassin
f) Tony Blair

5) Who is this blonde woman and what is her strange relationship to Dr David McElhinney (aka Dr Death, the Liverpool rottweiller, ed)






6) Name all Dr David's other blonde friends (and state whether they ever joined him at Knowsley on an all expenses paid trip abroad funded by a council contractor) and whether he then moved to Liverpool city council where he fixed them up with a do-nothing, but highly lucrative job. Or not . (It is permissible for you to use a separate sheet of paper to list any of these, ed)

7) Who said: "I told them no good will come of all of this - no-one will win."

a) Colin 'Cover Up' Hilton
b) The smiling assassin, Halsall
c) Rex Makin
d) Saddam Hussain

8) Which famous Liverpool trio ran in the New York marathon?

a) Sue, Grabbit and Runne
b) Kendall, Ball and Harvey
c) Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil (that's the city council's new slogan, ed)
d) McElhinney, Halsall and Cole





9) Who got free tickets from Phil Halsall for concerts at The Summer Pops?

a) Colin 'Cover Up' Hilton
b) The rottweiller McElhinney (for his parents, ed)

c) Sir Diddy and Lady Alison Henshaw
d) Councillor Paul Clark
e) Councillor Mike Storey
f) The woman at the butty shop (true, ed)
g) All of the above

10) Whose son made a 'once in a lifetime' appearance in a Southport-based combo, as the support act to Status Quo at the Summer Pops, for a still undisclosed fee from Chas Cole's CMP?

11) Which Porsche-driving Executive Director slammed the phone down on a journalist who had the disgraceful cheek and temerity to dare to ask him about his son's 'once in a lifetime' appearance at the Summer Pops and whether he had ever officially declared such a personal and pecuniary interest, in accordance with council regulations? (this question has been drafted by the bald eagle, ed)






12) Name the two pop bands in this historic and much loved photograph.






13) How many hits did the liverpoolevilcabal blog get?

a) Not half as many as the number of pounds Henshaw stole from Liverpool.
b) Not half as many as the number of pounds McElhinney stole from Liverpool
c) Dunno - but all 19,531 council workers were logging on as soon as they got home.
d) 102,465 (precisely, ed)
14) Who said: "show me the money."

a) Dick Turpin (well, it is the panto season, ed)
b) Sir Diddy
c) The rottweiller
d) Robbing Archer
e) Chas Cole
f) All of the above

15) What was the venue for the infamous Summer Pops media briefing, attended by the Harbarrowboy, Chas Cole and Jon Brown?

a) Colin Hilton's office
b) Jason Harbarrowboy's office
c) Chas Cole's office
d) The Racquet Club
e) Starbucks
f) The back of the bike sheds

16) Who said: "Don't let the evil cabal get you down" and to whom?

a) Mike Storey to Matt Finnegan
b) Warren Bradley to Mike Storey
c) Rex Makin to Matt Finnegan
d) Tony Parrish to the people of Liverpool

17) Who was Tony Parrish?

a) Sir Diddy desperately trying to get a sympathy vote
b) Daily Post journalist, Larry Neild (pictured, ed)
c) Francis Rossi from Status Quo
d) That bullshitting Kris Donaldson fella
e) Colin Hilton, trying to ensure that anyone with half a brain seemed infinitely preferable to the evil cabal
f) All of the above

18) Who said: "Whatever happens, we won't let you down."

a) Sir Diddy
b) Mike Storey
c) The editor of the Echo
d) Sven Goran Erikson






19) Who is Inspector Clueless? (clue: he's a fat, moronic, pompous Lib Dem councillor who believes in nothing but himself, ed. (Sorry, that doesn't really narrow it down very much, ed)




20) What is this?
TIE-BREAKER: Please supply a suitable caption to this action photograph of the new leader of the council.



COMING SOON: The Liverpool subCulture Awards for 2006, featuring the Tony Parrish Award to the 'Hypocrite of the Year'; the 'Blonde of the Year' (sponsored by BT); Quote of the Year; etc, etc, etc.

"WON'T YOU PLEASE, PLEASE, HELP ME, HELP ME, HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

MIKE STOREY has blundered again with claims that Sir Paul McCartney is to play a Liverpool gig during Capital of Culture.
The former council leader, not known for his discretion, told a private meeting of Liverpool businesspeople that Macca was being lined-up for the gig with '"friends".
Of course bungling Storey did not apparently realise that his words would be immediately reported in the Liverpool Daily Post and start yet another 'will he, won't he?' hare running about Macca.
The truth is this: The Culture Company are desperate to sign up McCartney for 2008.
He is being offered millions to fill the huge gaping whole left by their premature announcement last Monday about the 'Concert with No Stars (yet)' on the waterfront, in the summer.
Even that Aussie charlatan, Robbing Archer understood that McCartney's presence was fairly essential to the success of the entire Capital of Culture year.
Robbing had some imaginative plans to persuade McCartney to play Liverpool, giving him complete artistic control of a day-long gig or series of concerts throughout the summer.
As artistic 'curator' Macca would have been able to choose who would have appeared on the same stage and which other artists to give a platform to.
McCartney has already made it crystal clear that he wants to give a showcase to young Liverpool talent from LIPA in particular (good for him, ed)
Not unnaturally, Macca also wants to be given the final say about anyone else who is going to try and muscle in on the act.
After all he is a global superstar, and in 2008, Liverpool needs Macca more than Macca needs Liverpool (true, very true, ed).
All of this was being slowly and carefully negotiated by the Harbarrowboy and assorted minions from the Culture Company.
But now that Storey has opened his big fat gob, there are serious concerns that he could spook Sir Paul and put him off the gig. (After all he is not going through the easiest of times at the moment and could do without more hassle.)
No one from the Culture Company is talking about the Macca gig or confirming Storey's indiscretions, because premature publicity could ruin their chances.
Interestingly, despite all the brave words at the launch event last Monday night, Storey clearly felt under pressure to talk up 2008 because it has so far failed to capture the public imagination.
He was anxious to re-assure business that 2008 is still on track - so he revealed the plans for McCartney "like a rabbit out of a hat" as Warren Bradley might say.
Macca's appearance in his home town in 2008 would, of course, go a long way to answering the critics. (As long as the city council doesn't give all its staff first preference for tickets, like McElhinney and Halsall dreamed up last time, ed)

WHO GOES FIRST? - NIGHT OF THE LONG KNIVES ON THE CULTURE COMPANY BOARD

NINE members of the Capital of Culture Board are to be sacked in a new shake-up.

The move is official confirmation that Henshaw's original placemen and women have failed.
At the moment the Culture Board is made up of 23 Directors, all hand-picked by Sir Diddy.
They have done bugger all to make Capital of Culture a success except sit around once a month at the Town Hall after tucking into a sumptuous lunch, then bore everyone rigid with their talking shop, try to outdo each other in proclaiming their cultural expertise (sic, ed) , pat themselves on the back, congratulate everyone and anyone who gave them a fancy presentation on all the fantastic things that are going to happen (shurely some mistake? ed) and hope that, as night follows day, they would be getting a mention in the 2008 New Year's Honours List of Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

In other words, this is exactly the 'do nothing' role that Henshaw prescribed for them.

But now after the departure of Robbing Archer and the complete failure of the Culture Company to deliver anything it has promised, someone has obviously had enough of these stuffed shirts competing for self-aggrandisement. (My money is on Warren Bradley threatening to withdraw council support, ed).
Now the Board are being whittled down to just 14.
The 14 will include three council representatives (Bradley, Storey and Anderson).
The rest of them will have to fight it out for their places in the next month, with final decisions made on November 29th.
But there is even worse - the Board will now meet every THREE months! Again, official confirmation that their presence is useless. (If this isn't an admission of abject failure, I don't know what is, ed)
And there will also be a small Operational Board, replacing the current Executive Group, which will meet approximately every six weeks (This will be where the real power is carved up - just wait to see who is on this, ed)
An Advisory Group (another do-nothing body, set up just for appearances sake, ed) is also:

"being established to create a wider stakeholder group of key representatives, funding partners and other organisations who are not members of the Board. This group will meet twice a year to allow the Board to draw on the extensive field of expertise available." (Utterly fanciful bollocks. Do they think we were born yesterday? ed)

Which of the nine will be sacked, resign or find 'new opportunities' elsewhere will only be decided at the end of November, but no doubt a few will jump first.

Here is our forecast: Those who we think will go, are in red.

Prof Drummond Bone (Chairman) - Vice Chancellor, University of Liverpool (Bone-Head should go, but won't, ed)

Cllr Warren Bradley (Vice Chair) - Leader, Liverpool City Council

Loyd Grossman OBE (Vice Chair) - Chair, Culture NorthWest / Chairman, National Museums Liverpool

Susan Woodward OBE (Vice Chair) - Managing Director, ITV-Granada

Jason Harborow (Chief Executive) - Liverpool Culture Company (Harbarrowboy will have to stay unfortunately, though it is through Bradley's gritted teeth, ed)

Tony Wilson (Company Secretary) - Senior Partner, Hill Dickinson, Liverpool

Cllr Joe Anderson - Leader of the Opposition, Liverpool City Council

Tom Bloxham MBE - Chair, Arts Council England North West

Cllr Mike Storey CBE - Liverpool City Council

Prof Michael Brown DL - Vice Chancellor, Liverpool John Moores University (mate of Sir Diddy's)

Wally Brown CBE - Principal, Liverpool Community College

Sir Neil Cossons OBE - Chairman, English Heritage (he thinks its a complete disaster)

Louise Ellman - MP for Riverside

Cllr Ronnie Round - Leader, Knowsley Council

Ruth Gould - Creative Director, North West Disability Arts Forum

Bryan Gray - Chairman, Northwest Regional Development Agency

Roger Lewis - Chairman, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

Pat Loughrey - Director, BBC Nations & Regions

David McDonnell CBE DL - Chief Executive Worldwide, Grant Thornton International (who he?)

Roy Morris DL - Chairman, The Mersey Partnership (universally loathed by the politicians as a Henshaw acolyte)

Sir Bob Scott - International Director, Liverpool Culture Company (marginalised and irrelevant, but might be kept on because they feel sorry for him, ed)

Brenda Smith -Group UK Managing Director, Ascent Media

Andrew Worthington MBE - Chair, Sport England's Northwest Regional Sports Board

IF YOU THINK SOMEONE SPECIFIC SHOULD WALK THE PLANK, PLEASE SEND US HIS/HER NAME IN A COMMENT AND WE WILL KEEP A RUNNING TOTAL. WE WILL PASS ON THE MOST POPULAR CHOICE FOR THE ORDER OF THE BOOT TO COLIN 'COVER UP' HILTON.

CAPTION COMPETITION: THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOYS

You can win one of three fantastic prizes in Liverpool subCulture's first caption competition!

Simply supply the best caption to this historic photograph taken at Liverpool Town Hall in June 2003 when Liverpool became Capital of Culture, 2008.

And you could win:

• 3rd prize - a £100,000-a-year sinecure in the Culture Company, where you will be so badly marginalised that people will pay no attention to you whatsoever and turn a blind eye as you spend your days playing patience on your computer to your hearts content

• 2nd prize - weakly give in to your own officials when they bully and threaten you, completely lose your nerve, abandon loyal staff, try to avoid responsibility for anything that goes wrong and then become a tame back seat driver, searching for a role
  

• 1st prize - abuse your power and position, stitch up your media chief, lie like it was council policy, blackmail the city, bully and threaten your own leader and then pocket a cool £360,000 pension pay-out!
  

Any one of these fantastic prizes could be yours!

NB - witty, vituperative and fearless captions stand the best chance of success.