Liverpool subCulture: Titanic

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?

Showing posts with label Titanic. Show all posts

Monday, October 29, 2007

MONEY FOR NOTHING AND YOUR KICKS FOR FREE - I WANT MY MTV, SAY THE FIREMAN, DONALD BULLSHITTER AND COVER UP!!!

A UNIQUE trio will be making a special guest appearance at the MTV music awards in Munich later this week.

Fireman Bradley, Donald Bullshitter and Colin CoverUp will all be jetting off to Germany at council taxpayer's expense.

They will be getting on down with the kids and listening to the likes of ace rapper Snoop Dogg, who is hosting Europe's biggest music show, the MTV awards ceremony.

The Liverpool trio will be paying special attention no doubt as Snoop "will bring some unique ‘DoggyStyle’ as he guides us all through the night’s awards," according to the MTV web site.

Amongst the stars appearing at the Munich Olympiahalle will be the Foo Fighters and Mika (a Donald Bullshitter favourite, eds) with awards presented by Joss Stone, Wyclef Jean and Michael Stipe amongst others.

Bradley, Bullshitter and CoverUp will no doubt spare a thought amidst all the showbiz glamour and excitement for poor old Jase the Harbarrowboy, who has been left forlorn and forgotten at his Spanish hacienda.

Sad Jase was one of the main movers behind bringing the MTV show to Liverpool next year (he was going to do his George Formby act, eds)

What the precise role of the Fireman, Bullshitter and Coverup is in Munich, or how much it will cost the city's council taxpayers is anyone's guess.

But no doubt they will enjoy their brief spell away from the cares of the council's £22million budget crisis.

Any suggestion that they are to get star billing in Munich as Liverpool's very own 'trio of toss-pots' is without any substance.

Astonishly, however, one Liverpool figure will be noticeably missing from the all-star Liverpool line-up as they are being wined, dined and tucked up overnight in a five star hotel.

Step forward Gordon Ross, the Culture Company's very own Music Co-ordinator.

Mr Ross, who has spent an awful long time planning the MTV awards in Liverpool next year, was due to travel to Germany to see the show at first hand.

That would of course, have been a perfectly legitimate business trip, because as Music co-ordinator he would have helped ensure that Liverpool was the perfect host for the MTV music show in 2008.

(Editor's interjection: It would have been even better of course, if the Culture Company had this year also sponsored a musically-talented Liverpool teenager to experience the thrill of their lives in Munich as a reward for being one of our good young citizens. But, of course, none of the Culture Company crackpots had the whit to think of anything as creative, inventive or deserving as that.)

But instead Mr Ross was surprisingly informed that his services would no longer be required at the MTV awards and that Donald Bullshitter would be accompanying the Fireman and CoverUp instead.

Mr Ross, who has a mere PHd in music, will instead be left minding the shop at the Fun Palace - still, never mind, he will be able to watch the show on his telly.

You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried, could you?

Some further questions for readers to consider...

Does anyone who is alive out there think this disgraceful nonsense is now getting just a little bit beyond a joke?

What possible justification is there for chief bureaucrat CoverUp's attendance at a pop music show?

Why has the Bullshitter, infamous for his karaoke performances, shoved the only musically qualified member of the Culture Company's staff out of the way?

Does the Fireman hold the people of Liverpool in absolute and total contempt?

How much is all this costing council taxpayers?
Will any member of the Mersey meeja try to hold any of these bastards to public account?

And most astonishing of all, why hasn't the great grey hope Redmundo blagged a place on the junket for himself, where he could preen his huge ego?

Or is he washing his hair on Thursday?

Saturday, September 15, 2007

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: McCARTNEY TO PLAY ANFIELD - Macca 1, Harbarrowboy 0

PAUL MCCARTNEY is to play at Anfield during Capital of Culture, 2008.

And the ludicrous scheme to stun fish and drain Salthouse Dock for a concert has finally been abandoned (More on this in subsequent posts....)

The McCartney gig - which is the answer to the Harbarrowboy's prayers - will be announced on September 27th.

(Unless the fact that we have just announced this world exclusive forces some of the papers to suddenly wake up, or that bloke whose name we always forget who is the Culture Company's highly paid Communications Supremo gets his arse into gear quite unexpectedly, eds)

Macca had been due to travel to Liverpool for the special announcement in two weeks time - but now has a prior engagement and sadly won't be attending. Jase will be bitterly disappointed - he was hoping to bathe in Macca's reflected glory.

Incredibly, some terribly po-faced cultural bores were also opposed to the McCartney gig being announced on the 27th, because it would take attention away from the rest of the cultural programme for 2008 which will be revealed at the same time.

But then they are labouring under the misapprehension that the second rate fare they have cobbled together matters more than the city's most famous son turning up in 2008.

Originally it had been hoped that McCartney would headline the ludicrous Liverpool Sound concert at the Salthouse Dock.

But, as we exclusively predicted ages ago, the Culture Company have now been forced to admit that their plan to dredge the dock and stun all the fishy inhabitants, is a non- starter.

It would have cost £6.5million to get the fish out safely and biff them over the head safely before transporting them to a giant tank.

So now attention will switch to Anfield. We doubt, however, that McCartney's arrival will suddenly undo all the damage caused by the incompetence of the Culture Company.

Or help save the necks of the rapidly disappearing Lib Dems...

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

THE GREAT WHITE HOPE(LESS)

And so the Great White Hope comes riding to the rescue.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

Step forward the lugubrious Phil Redmond, self-styled man of the people, multi-millionaire and purveyor of ubiquitous Scouse stereotypes.

Some have greatness thrust upon them, Redmond has thrust his greatness upon us (oooeeer missus, eds)

Redmond is now, apparently, hailed the saviour of Capital of Culture, determined to stop the rot, end the nonsense and finally connect Culture with the people it is meant to serve.

He has been appointed to lead Capital of Culture into the sunlit uplands of 2008, after the second Night of the Long Knives at the Culture Company Board.

First they were 24.

Now they are just six.

We hesitate to say 'we told you so'.

Oh alright then, we don't hesitate at all.

WE TOLD YOU SO!

The Culture Board was a washed-out and washed-up collection of Henshaw's tame yes men and women, who were neither use nor ornament to the great city of Liverpool.

Like the powerless Lib Dems, who sat wringing their hands in despair on the sidelines, the Culture Board betrayed the city of Liverpool and its people.

How so?

They fiddled about while the city burned with indignation.

And Redmond is just as culpable as the rest of a Board which all sat silently on their hands while the Harbarrowboy fucked over Liverpool, good style.

Not one of them raised a voice in complaint (except the principled Joe Anderson of course, eds)

Not one of them dared to have the courage to say enough is enough.

Not one of them tried to stop the Culture Co bollocksing up the city's big chance.

They stayed schtum and silent, when they should have been shouting from the rooftops.

They are all - including Mr Phil Redmond - complicit in this comprehensive failure.

Will we get an apology?

Will we buggery.

And now we are asked to pin our hopes and put our faith in the silent one?

The man who earned his fortune on the backs of Liverpool people by caricaturing the city with ugly Scouse stereotypes?

The man who gives professional Scousers a bad name?

The man who thinks that speaking up for Liverpool means saying nothing?

You must be out of your tiny mind.

We have no confidence in Redmond. We never have had any confidence in him.

He has done fuck all in the last two years and deserves to be fucked off like the rest of them. He has proved our point.

And we particularly lack any confidence in the new Redmond regime, when Deputy Dawg is the Fireman Bradley who demonstrates his powerlessness with each passing second that the Harbarrowboy survives.

The Redmond regime will make the right noises (with the right accent - carefully preserved by a strict diet of honey and roses, eds).

But he will not bring the enduring change for the better that Liverpool needs.

Nor will he seriously consult the staff at the Culture Company who have been working hard to leave a tangible legacy, despite the handicap of the Harbarrowboy's mis-management.

Oh no, instead he will dream up a few typically tabloid schemes to buy off the limp Echo - and then suddenly proclaim 2008 a great success.

Some will be fooled by the fireworks. But we won't. We have had years of Lib Dem spin that everything in the garden is rosy. We know what's what.

Take a trip to Speke, matey. Or Croccy. Or anywhere in north Liverpool.

See if you can spot a rosy garden there.

And who ever gave Redmond the authority to lead the people's Capital of Culture, anyway?

The people certainly did not.

No-one consulted US.

No-one elected him.

No-one can fire him.

And who will hold him to account for 2008?

Deputy Dawg?

Give us a break.

Self-appointed, self-interested, self-selecting.

Self-serving.

Nothing ever changes.

PS While the knife was being wielded on the Culture Company, the Harbarrowboy is away in Spain putting the finishing touches to his retirement home. He will be gone with a huge pay-off inside the next month with some spin about his job being done.

Monday, August 20, 2007

GOING...GOING....

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

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?

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

ADVICE TO WARREN BRADLEY ON MATHEW STREET FESTIVAL: STOP PICKING AT AN OPEN WOUND

Dear Councillor Bradley,
You are making matters worse. Stop picking at the open wound you have created over Mathew Street.
Your chief executive Cover Up and your Culture boss the Harbarrowboy have created a god-awful gaping wound in Liverpool's self-esteem and cultural reputation, which you can't cure or cover up with a cobbled together rescue plan made of sticking plaster.
Stop parading your stupidity in public, in full view of the TV cameras.
You are only drawing further attention to your crass incompetence and lack of control over the fools at the council and the Culture Company.
Worse, the nightly updates on the telly and in the papers just pile on the agony for Liverpool.
You are making things worse for the city.
Stop it now. And instead, take tough action against those responsible.

Tony's Parrishioners

Monday, August 06, 2007

IT'S OFFICIAL: AUDIT COMMISSION'S DAMNING VERDICT ON CULTURE COMPANY: 'POOR PROSPECTS FOR IMPROVEMENT'

EXTRACT FROM 2006 AUDIT COMMISSION REPORT ON CAPITAL OF CULTURE

SUMMARY....
.....6 The Council does not adequately monitor or measure value for money within cultural services. It has some information on costs but does not routinely evaluate the relationship between service quality or service outcomes and the cost.

7 There are a number of reasons why future improvement is uncertain. There is a lack of clarity around what the Council's wider ambitions for cultural provision in Liverpool will mean for local people and how it will be delivered. Planning is dominated by the Capital of Culture and it is not clear what legacy will remain after the main festival year in 2008.

8 Although improving, performance management in cultural services has been weak and the Council's performance management framework has not been effective in measuring the impact of cultural services on local people. This means that the Council cannot always judge whether its investment is having the desired effect on improving quality of life.

9 Whilst much of the funding required to deliver Capital of Culture is already in place, the Council overall has significant financial pressures and whilst medium and longer-term financial plans are being developed, this has been slow. The Council is aware that it will not be able to sustain high levels of funding for culture and through the Culture Company is looking at future funding opportunities to ensure that plans are sustainable.

-------------------------

13 The service has uncertain prospects for improvement because:
* other than for Capital of Culture, there is a lack of clarity around what the Council's ambition and vision for cultural services will mean for local people and how it will be delivered;
* there is little recognition within high level corporate plans of the role of culture in delivering strategic priorities;
* although improving, performance management in cultural services has been weak and the Council's performance management framework has not been effective in monitoring the impact of cultural services on local people; and
* the Council has significant financial pressures in other areas which may impact on its ability to finance its cultural ambitions.

WE TOLD YOU SO!

Sunday, August 05, 2007

TONY'S BLOG UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT: PITY THE CULTURE COMPANY ISN'T!

Dear loyal readers,

We have missed you.

That's why we have persuaded the legendary Tony Parrish (alive and well and living in clover, somewhere across the water, surrounded by a bevy of gorgeous followers catering to his every whim, ed) to hand over his blog to his fans (that's us, ed) so that we can carry on his good work.

And there has been no better time for a new, tougher, more uncompromising broom to sweep through Liverpool subculture than now - when the dunderheads at the Culture Company appear to have finally gone bonkers/insane/committed hara kiri - by cancelling the Mathew Street festival.

As we speak, our favourite organ, the Echo is launching a last ditch bid to hold Europe's biggest outdoor music festival (what about Glastonbury? ed) in a pub somewhere off Old Hall Street.

Our current council leader Warren Bradley has flown back from the Canary Islands, muttering "crisis, what crisis" under his breath and has also revealed his own personal 'no booze' rescue plan to save the festival.

At any moment, we are expecting Gordon Brown to divert his attention from boring foot and mouth disease and form a four piece combo with Blair, Prescott and Campbell called "the Spinners" to make a guest appearance in someone's back yard in Kensington and save the Festival.

Oh what fun we are having.

What is clear from this monumental cock-up is that the remnants of the cabal are still in control of Culture.

Bradley has allowed them to take control without the slightest effort at holding them to account.

Arrogant, unaccountable, undemocratic and a law unto themselves, Colin Cover Up and The Harbarrowboy appear to have decided amongst themselves to cancel the Mathew Street Festival.

Just like that. ("Or it could be like that" - Tommy Cooper)

Warren Bradley has professed total ignorance (no surprise there then, ed).

Which makes us wonder why anybody would want to vote Liberal Democract ever again when their leader doesn't have a clue what is going on in the city.

What's the point in voting for him then?

It seems we would be better off abolishing inconvenient elections all together and just letting Cover Up and his band of incompetents run the show forever (and award themselves huge pay rises every month, no doubt, ed)

In the meantime, Liverpool will be left to become even more of a music hall joke, scores of businesses will go to the wall, thousands of visitors will be left with nothing to do and the city will lose one of its genuinely international events.

Whats more, hard-faced Harbarrowboy and Hilton appear to have been a bit surprised by the universal outrage which has greeted their bungling decision.

Which shows how lacking in judgment they are and how little they understand the city of Liverpool.

It's a bit like the Town Clerk of Rio de Janeiro cancelling Mardi Gras and being a bit surprised that people have got just a teentsy weentsy bit upset.

What cast-iron fools we have in charge of our city.

Bradley should resign - the Mathew Street debacle happened on his watch. Professing ignorance compounds his error.

As the senior politician he must take full responsibility.

But before he goes, he should demand the resignations of both Harbarrowboy and Hilton who are complicit in the worst Public Relations disaster for Liverpool since Degsy decided to become a full-time member of the Tendency.

They are clearly incompetent and out of their depth. Their arrogance in thinking that they could get away with such a decision is typical of the cabalist rule.

They treat the people of Liverpool with utter contempt and have no respect for the city's culture, its history or how it is viewed by the outside world.

That is the only conclusion to be drawn from what Bradley himself has admitted is 'a fiasco' which now appears to be the subject of a full-scale, sadly not independent, investigation.

Even the Echo agrees and certainly the people of Liverpool must be in despair at this monumental cultural cock-up.

Time for a clear-out and a clean-up.

And time we had politicians in charge who could get a firm grip of the shower of greedy wasters at the Culture Company and the city council (preferably around the neck, ed). No one would notice any difference if the Harbarrowboy was sacked.

Either that or we could always get Warren to give Chas Cole a ring and see if he can save the day ?

Perhaps we can hold the Mathew Street Festival in Sefton, instead?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(What do you think of that for a first effort then? Not bad, though I think we could have been a bit more direct and uncompromising. Yeah, I know, i pulled a few punches didn't I? Never mind, you will get the hang of it before too long - - and there will obviously be lots more opportunities to have a go. That's true. Do you think Bradley will really sack Harbarrow? No chance, if he did he would be admitting he was in charge of a catastrophe - they will all hang on to their jobs and we will lurch on to another crisis. Suppose your right....)

COMING SOON:

REVEALED: THE HARBARROWBOY'S SECRET PROPERTY BUSINESS IN SPAIN or

"Why I go missing every Friday and have such a fetching tan" or

"No wonder the Culture Company is in such a mess when the guy in charge fucks off to the sunshine every weekend to pursue other private business interests...." (allegedly, ed)

ps you can get in touch with us at tonysparrishioners@hotmail.co.uk

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

CoC RESIGNATION No 2: CULTURE EVENTS BOSS QUITS...

The shock departure of Culture Company Events boss Lee Forde is a huge blow after the resignation yesterday of Joe Anderson.

Anderson's departure was a major political setback, destroying the cross-party consensus which had been created when the Culture nomination was won in 2004.

At a stroke it has given the green light to a ferocious political battle over 2008, for at least the next 18 months.

Forde's departure is a huge body blow to the nuts and bolts of the organisation - he was one of the few competent senior managers still working in the Millennium House Fun Palace.

More than that, Forde was of the city. He knows Liverpool, understands Liverpool and has been active and professional in trying to improve the city's cultural offer.

He was central to all the plans for events in the city over the next 18 months - Mathew Street, Tall Ships, the opening and closing ceremonies and all the other public events that the city usually stages.

However, never one to hide his feelings (a true Scouser then, ed) he has made no secret of his increasing cynicism about the way the Culture Company was being run.

He has rolled his eyes as the well-paid likes of the Harbarrowboy, the bullshitter Donaldson and the invisible man communications boss (we have actually forgotten his name! Paul something isn't it? ed) have made Liverpool a laughing stock.

Forde had made no secret of his contempt for their amateurish machinations, their constant changes of mind, their bright ideas that are world-class one day and jettisoned as easily the next, and their awe-inspiring ability to spend tens of thousands on the third rate.

But most of his colleagues have been completely taken aback by his walk-out. He had just had enough of all the 'fannying about' as he memorably described it.

Certainly Forde's Number 2, Eddy Grant will have no hesitation in now telling the Harbarrowboy exactly where to go if he is expected to do Ford's job as well.

Which means the Harbarrowboy will either give the job to someone who is patently not up to it from within the organisation, or he will throw a huge wad of money at an outside consultant to try and dig them out of the deep do-do.

But given the particular circumstances - six months away from the start of 2008 and right in the middle of the historic 800th birthday celebrations (we joke, ed) few sensible operators will want to volunteer for the job.

It is a poisoned chalice, even for someone like Andy Redhead, a professional operator who staged the Robbie Williams world tour and has worked for the city before.

Unless - someone else, someone completely different, can save the day.

Step forward Chas Cole.....

PS We will be returning soon to the subject of the Culture Company's spiralling salary costs and the astonishing invoices for chauffeurs and posh dinners, which Joe Anderson exposed.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

JOE ANDERSON QUITS CULTURE - A MAN OF PRINCIPLE AND INTEGRITY

LABOUR leader Joe Anderson has resigned from Capital of Culture in disgust at its failures.

We agree with everything that Councillor Anderson says - which is why we are reproducing his entire statement from today's Daily Post...

CITY Labour chief Joe Anderson today walked away from his Capital of Culture role and accused the festival board of failing to deliver on its promises.
In a hard-hitting attack he said the Culture Board and the Culture Company were:
FAILING to engage communities and “real” people.
FAILING to provide a 2008 events programme that excited people.
FAILING to provide a worthwhile legacy for the city and missing the chance to kick-start creative industries.
He lashed the city council for “mismanaging” the 08 funding equation and leaving Liverpool £20m short.
Cllr Anderson vowed to fight on from his position as Opposition Group leader in an effort to ensure the city delivered the best-possible Capital of Culture.
He said: “Wherever I go I have community groups say that they don’t feel part of Capital of Culture.
“People are constantly complaining about over emphasis on city- centre investment and when you visit parts of Speke and see the dereliction there it really hits home.
“I’ve been going round mounting a robust defence of Capital of Culture but my heart hasn’t been in it.”
Cllr Anderson claimed 08 had moved away dramatically from the promises within the bid document that persuaded the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to award Liverpool the Culture accolade in 2003.
He said: “I met the judges – Jeremy Isaacs, Tessa Sanderson – and told them all about the communities and our bid’s aspirations for them.
“But these aspirations simply haven’t been met.”
And Cllr Anderson – born in the city centre just yards from the Paradise Street development – also refused to acknowledge that the so-called “2008 effect” had played a massive part in the city’s fast-paced economic renaissance.
He said: “It’s a myth. The renaissance is real but it was begun by European Objective One funding and maintained by government grants.
“Don’t forget that when the bid document was launched the Grosvenor shopping development was already in the bag as was development of the King’s Dock. Renaissance was kicking in anyway.”
Cllr Anderson also claimed arts organisations and creative companies have been betrayed by the way 08 has been developed and have suffered from lack of involvement and no worthwhile legacy.
He pointed to Liverpool’s literary legends Alan Bleasdale and Willy Russell as people who should have been consulted and utilised, perhaps in the creation of theatre schools to develop young talent post-2008.
He said: “I ask myself what the legacy benefits will be and I can’t really answer that question. The Tall Ships coming back again? A bigger Mathew Street Festival?
“There is no cultural legacy – only lack of involvement and lack of vision.”
It was an open secret in political circles that Cllr Anderson was struggling to reconcile his role on a cross- party and public-private sector board with his position as the city’s premier voice of opposition to the ruling Lib Dem Group which controls culture activity.
He now believes he can work more effectively “unfettered” by collective responsibility.
He added: “I’m now free to make whatever comments I deem constructive – sometimes positive, sometimes critical.
“I’ve felt for months that talking to some members of the culture board is like banging your head on a brick wall.
“Everything is met by defensiveness or accusations of negativity.”
Cllr Anderson said he believed the culture board was guilty of building up unreasonable expectations about the festival from the word go.
He said: “This festival will not be the wealth-creating, job-creating panacea for all the city’s ailments that it was cracked up to be.
“There is still time to provide people with the opportunity to take part and also to give the cultural sector better opportunities to participate.
“And if there’s one good thing to emerge from all the money that’s been spent it’s that the city has got a re-branding. It might be money well spent. We now need to have confidence in what the city has to offer.”
Cllr Anderson said he would continue “with passion” to promote the city in a positive way.
“This isn’t about party politics. It’s about me as a person and a Liverpudlian. And about a city with a legacy of debt.”

Joe Anderson on .....

... ROBYN ARCHER

WHEN she was brought in everybody thought WHO?
But it was the Emperor’s New Clothes and no-one said much. Then we hardly saw her for 12 months – even though we were paying her. She then comes up with a programme and that’s when I came up with my remark that the only Aussie she hadn’t signed was Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. David Henshaw and Mike Storey brought her halfway across the world but she knew so little about Liverpool. She quits and we’re a laughing stock, giving her a huge pay-off while community groups are getting knocked back for £2,000.

... THE 2008 PROGRAMME

I’M not convinced there’s really anything outstanding in there.
There’s nothing that jumps out – no wow factor, no big theme. I’m terrified the 2008 opening ceremony is going to be all about B-list celebrities. And as for 2007 we’re already halfway through it and I don’t detect any great birthday excitement.

... 08 BOARD MEMBERS

PHIL Redmond and Roger Phillips were a breath of fresh air and I wish we had a few more like them. They are not controversial but they speak as they see it and as people in the street see it.
There should definitely be a broader mix of people on the board. In four-and-a-half years we haven’t achieved much.

... THE FUNDING DILEMMA

THE council has failed to prepare a war chest since COC was awarded in 2004. The Government has supplied more than the £10m requested by the city council in the Bid Document. Hoping that the Government would bail out the city if it let the problem fester until the last minute was a high-risk strategy.
The council should have been honest with the people and said “Look, this is what Cultural Year will cost and we will have to save for it between 2003 and 2008”.

... COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

VISITORS might like 2008 but I don’t think residents will.
Go to Dingle, Everton, Speke and you’ll find people who’ve come up with ideas but they are frustrated at getting neither financial nor physical support. It’s a failure that we haven’t encouraged them to participate.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

MAN OVERBOARD! DID HE JUMP, OR WAS HE PUSHED?

Drummond Bone-Head has finally resigned as Chair of the Capital of Culture Board.

Did he jump to go to a highly paid university sinecure somewhere more salubrious, or was he pushed over the side by fireman Bradley?

Whatever the answer - and there is much informed speculation about both possibilities - one thing is clear.

His departure brings to an end two wasted years, during which time his Culture Company Board have done a resounding bugger all to make 2008 a success for Liverpool.

Instead they have constantly re-arranged the deck-chairs on the Titanic (and thrown public money around like it was confetti), while watching helplessly from the rails as the ruinously expensive ship slides slowly beneath the icy waters (he's getting quite poetic these days, isn't he? ed)

The Maserati-driving Bone Head has been singularly unimpressive. His dull and listless performances have, at times, even made the Harbarrowboy look as though he has got half a brain.

Indeed he is only just trailing behind Jase in the 'sack him' demands from blog afficionados.

Bone-Head's main claim to fame has been cosying up to professional Scouser Cilla Black at some posh do for the great and the good in Westminster. This was in fact, why Bone Head agreed to be Henshaw's placeman on the Culture Company Board - so some of the anticipated (but still missing, ed) glitter would be liberally sprinkled over his benevolent shoulders and he would pick up a gong in gratitude from Gordon Brown's New Years Honours list for 2008.

Alas, for him both the glitteratti and the gong have failed to materialise (like much else that has been promised for 2008, ed)

So another departure from the Culture Company - first Robbing was given the push and then there was a night of the long knives for the other useless placemen and women who were serving themselves. It is bound to raise even more questions and doubts about the 'plans' for 2008. (But you won't read any of this in the Echo, ed)

Bone-head has been an utter disaster in charge of the do-nothing Culture Board and is jumping ship before he is forced to carry the can for 2008.

Which means, someone (Roger Phillips? Phil Redmond? Colin Cover Up? Cilla? ed) will now have to step forward to shoulder the increasing burden.

Talk about a poisoned chalice...

Betting for the new Chair of the Board: That bloke from the Phil 6-1, Mike Storey 9-1, Roger Phillips 25-1, Sexy Rexy 50-1, Stan Boardman 9-4 on, Tony Blair 5-4 (well he's got nothing better to do now, ed), Cilla evens, Jimmy Tarbuck 250-1, Sir Diddy 500-1 (and he was lucky to get the one, ed)

Friday, April 13, 2007

LUXURY YACHT COST £25,000 DURING £265,000 CANNES TRIP

HIRING a millionaire's yacht in Cannes for Colin Cover Up and Fireman Bradley cost council taxpayers £25,000, a Freedom of Information answer has revealed.

They were both able to relax and sunbathe on the luxurious boat which was used for breakfasts, lunches and a string of informal drinks receptions.

And the staggering total bill for Liverpool's week long jaunt to the south of France was at least £265,000.

If you think extremely hard and can come up with slightly better ways to spend public money - (ie, cutting crime, repairing houses, cleaning the streets, improving the schools, extending care, ed) - please do not hesitate to tell us.

The Freedom of Information answer reveals that it cost the city council £10,000 alone in accomodation and flights to send a footie team of council bureaucrats to Cannes for the jaunt last month.

These included Cover Up (also now known in council circles as 'safe hands', ed), Bradley, new Regeneration chief John Kelly and Culture Company Marketing chief Kris 'bullshitter' Donaldson.

Their out of pocket expenses bill for taxis, a round of orange juices, entertaining, dancing girls and boys, etc - (all those receptions, ed) - has not been provided by the council.

In addition, the city council, which is £29million in the red at the moment, coughed up another £50,000 out of its depleted coffers for the MIPIM week.

More public money swelled the total bill to an astonishing £265,000 - Liverpool Land Development Company and Liverpool Vision both chipped in £25,000 each and The Mersey Partnership coughed up a paltry £15,000.

All of these organisations are, of course, funded by city council taxpayers.

So the people of Anfield, Kensington, Picton, Croxteth, Everton, Speke, Garston, Norris Green, Dingle, Toxteth, etc, etc, have paid twice over for Bradley, Cover Up and Co to swan about on a yacht for a week.

Big Business in Liverpool contributed £150,000.

Unfortunately, no Freedom of Information answer will tell us what benefit MIPIM has brought to the city of Liverpool, how many jobs it has created for Liverpool people, how many extra training places it has provided for Liverpool's young people, or how much extra investment it has attracted to Liverpool.

BECAUSE NO ONE KNOWS...

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

GUESS HOW MUCH CAPITAL OF CULTURE IS GOING TO COST YOU....??????

£400!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, that's the bill for every household and business in the city to plug the £29million black hole in the council's budget.

So how can this be? Didn't the city council promise that there would be no extra cost to Liverpool's council tax payers when it first drew up the bid for Culture?

Well, yes, it did. But things have changed now apparently. Through a spectacular mixture of sheer incompetence, obscene profligacy and rank arrogance the city council has contrived to find itself £29million short of balancing its books.

The lion's share of this - £22million - is for Culture, which is currently spending money on 'who knows what' like it is going out of fashion. The city council needs another £7million just to maintain the existing level of poor quality council services. Total = £29million.

The solution offered by the smiling assassin Hasitall (Phil Halsall, £169,000 a year Executive Director for Finance for those who don't know, ed) whose stewardship of the council's finances is may conceivably be to blame, is to beg, steal or borrow the necessary spondulicks from elsewhere. Any suggestion that, as the responsible officer, he had been criminally irresponsible with the city's finances would be criminally irresponsible, of course.

The council can either beg the Government for more dosh (and get lost, ed), it can steal the money from council taxpayers (already done that several times, ed) or it can borrow.

So it will do a combination of Options 2 and 3, while Warren 'I'm just a fireman' Bradley indulges in the distraction of the usual Lib Dem knockabout stuff aimed at the Government.

Meanwhile the city council will re-mortgage buildings like Millennium House (used to be known as Jase's Fun Palace, ed) and take out some more mind-boggling loans.

Either way, the result will be very clear.

Capital of Culture will leave a post-2008 legacy for the people of Liverpool of a huge new £29million debt. That works out at £400 for every home and business in the city. So we will all be in hock.

And all the time, the consultants and the highly paid Executives will have been happily lining their own pockets, thank you very much. And producing nothing very impressive for 2008 in return.

All of which puts McElhinney's Liverpool Direct scandal, Henshaw's bumper pension pay-off, the jobs for the boys, the £3million Summer Pops fiasco, the astronomical salaries, the foreign trips, the criminal pay-offs, the consultants fees, the freeloading, the waste and the neglect all in a bit more perspective doesnt it?

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

We couldn't agree more....

See Liverpool Confidential for the full story. Click here: Liverpool Confidential

Monday, February 12, 2007

THE SUMMER POPS: JIM FIXED IT FOR THEM!!!!

Sir Jimmy Fixit ABE said...

Now then, now then, goodness gracious me, guys and gals.
Not owwwnly Top of the Pops, but now the Summa pops, you see.
Gone! Oh! Oeeh, oeeh, oohh!
When I was running the marathon with Chas and Dave, who appeared with me many times you see, both of them more rabbit than Sainsbury's.I asked them to try and get Sho-waddy-waddy, for this years event,top billing!
but no they had other ideas, Sonny and Cher tribute band singing " I got you a gig, Abe"
Now I have been in this business menny-menny years ladies and gentlemen and I have been round the block.
You cannot have a tribute band as top of the bill. So my suggestion was, Pinky and Perky to be brought on as top of the bill but apparrently they had done a runner to France when they heard that The Scaffold may be on stage.
So if you are reading this boys, the scaffold in question is the one with Roger McGough, the limerick writer, although I thought he was from Liverpool, Martin Boermann..no, that's not right,no, John Gorman, who invented the bucket of water, and the brother of Lonnie Donnegan, Mike MeCamera.
Just imagine the crowds singing along at the end of the Pops to Thank you very much for the Aintree Iron. Oh yes! you see....

Thankyou very much for the sunken pier head: thank you very much
thank you very very very much.
Thank you very much for the traffic chaos,
the line 1 tram scheme,
The Iconic fourth grace,
the massive pension,
the office shower,
the Status Quo gig,
The Kensington One Stop,
The free car parking,
the half price child fares,
The robbing Archer.........thank you very very very much!

Actually it's quite a long song, maybe that's why they pulled the plug.

Never mind there's always next year...and the Phil Harmonica Orchestra are free to perform outside of the new met centre. Just a few coppers and a bottle of Thunderbird is all that would cost.; Monday, February 12, 2007 12:50:00 AM

Thursday, January 25, 2007

ANOTHER CULTURE COMPANY COCK-UP - TO COIN A PHRASE...

LIVERPOOL is hard-up for creative ideas and bankrupt of any influence in Westminster.
Those, we are afraid, are the only conclusions to be drawn from the Royal Mint's refusal to give Liverpool its own special coin to celebrate 2008.
The outright rejection has met with the usual plethora of puns from the Echo (the habit is catching, ed) along the lines of the city being short-changed, etc, etc.
The Daily Post has launched a Culture coin campaign, while the Echo's Joe Riley has weighed in (and that's a considerable amount, ed) with his own beef about the knock-back.
Before long the great and the good will be co-erced into lending (no pun intended, ed) their public support.
This is all part of the rich but predictable tapestry of so-called sophisticated media 'debate' in Liverpool.
But it shouldn't obscure anyone to the real facts about this Culture Company bid for a celebration coin.
First and foremost, it is a pretty shitty idea.
Are we really saying that this is what we want from government for 2008?

A few baubles and trinkets, such as a specially minted coin and a postage stamp?
And then we will all be happy if Gordon Brown gives in?
How pathetic and provincial we must appear in Whitehall.
And how easily diverted we are from the real purpose of 2008 which was, and should be, to use the year to ensure the genuine and inclusive regeneration of the city.
Let's not worry about the jobs which are not being created, the communities which continue to be ignored, the people who are denied hope and the generations which deserve a better future.
No, lets have a campaign about a coin instead.
Utterly ridic

ulous.
The Harbarrowboy is bleating in the pages of the Echo for the people of Liverpool to get behind his campaign for a coin. (Perhaps he could give a lead by giving the people of Liverpool some of the coins back from his £175,000 a year salary? ed)
At the same time, he is now claiming the credit for Manchester's Commonwealth Games coin, (so it's not even an original idea? ed)
His pathetic demand for Liverpool to have a coin as well, serves two useful purposes -
Firstly, it demonstrates the utter immaturity of the city's cultural leadership and its total bankruptcy of creative ideas.
Secondly, it focusses even more attention on the Harbarrowboy's distinct lack of credibility anywhere near where it matters.
What has he been up to these last three years? Counting his own money?
Twice he wrote to the Treasury, appealing for a culture coin, the first time as far back as June 2004.
Twice he has been routinely ignored by the mandarins at the Mint.
So much for Liverpool's campaign to win hearts and minds in government!
We won't make any comment on what his repeated failures say about the expensive Westminster lobbying services being provided by Jase's mates in the PR company, LLM (see previous pos

ts).
Unbelievably, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown is now being asked to personally intervene to reverse this so-called 'snub'.
And before long there will be the entirely predictable whinging that Manchester got one for the Commonwealth Games, and Newcastle for its bridge, why can't we have one for Culture?
This is a fair question to the simpletons deciding the fish and chip paper editorial policy of our fair city's esteemed organs.
It makes for an easy story and a headline.
But it is utterly besides the point.
A two-bit coin from the Treasury is not what we need for the great city of Liverpool, Europe's Capital of Culture and celebrating its historic 800th birthday this year.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

THE CULTURE COMPANY IS REALLY FLAGGING NOW...

WE ARE LITERALLY SPEECHLESS AT THIS....

---- Original Message -----

From: Doran, Mike

Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 11:55 AM

Subject: FLY FREE 800TH BIRTHDAY FLAG

For Immediate Release Tuesday, January 16 2006

FLY FREE 800^TH BIRTHDAY FLAG

Landmark locations and businesses in Liverpool are being urged to fly the flag for the city’s 800^th Birthday.

Distributed free of charge, businesses with flag poles are being invited throughout this January to parade a special Liverpool 800 flag.

And at 10.30am on Wednesday (January 17) the city’s official number one residence – Liverpool Town Hall – will set an example with a civic unfurling of its flag, witnessed by Lord Mayor Councillor Joan Lang and Leader of Liverpool City Council Councillor Warren Bradley.

The Liverpool Culture Company is encouraging businesses across Merseyside to support the 800^th birthday year and help promote the commerce of the city in the run up to the city being European Capital of Culture in 2008.

Businesses with flag poles can request a flag, which come in two sizes - 4yard and 4ftby2ft - by e-mailing commercial@liverpool08.com

All members of the 2008 business forum – 08businessconnect – are also being invited to display a free desktop version in their receptions, meeting rooms and on their company vehicles. Non-members can join 08 businessconnect for free to ensure they too receive a free flag, which can be picked up at the 08 place in Whitechapel from Monday 22 January.

Councillor Warren Bradley, Leader of Liverpool City Council and Business Champion for the city, said: ‘’We want businesses to lead the way and publicly set the tone for celebrating our 800^th. Businesses have played a major role in making the city world famous, from Meccano to Littlewoods, and through 08businessconnect they have a unique opportunity to make a name for themselves and the city once again.’’

Lord Mayor Councillor Joan Lang, said: ''One of Liverpool’s defining characteristics is the pride people have in the city – and looking back on 800 years of dramatic history there is a huge amount to be proud of. This flag is little way of celebrating that fact. Hopefully the sight of them on our streets and in offices will stir people's spirits and remind them we have a big future too.''

ENDS

PHOTO-CALL: Liverpool’s Lord Mayor and Council Leader attend civic unfurling of special 800 flag.
LOCATION: Liverpool Town Hall, High Street
DATE: Wednesday, January 17
TIME:10.30am

NOTES TO EDITORS:
08businessconnect will stage 13 events in 2007 offering vital opportunities for businesses of all sizes to network with key buyers and suppliers wishing to work in Liverpool in lead up to 08 and beyond. For more details log on to www.08bsuinessconncet.com

For further information please call Mike Doran at the Liverpool Culture Company on 0151 233 6761 or 0780 145 3918. For the latest news from Liverpool, European Capital 2008, visit www.liverpool08.com

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

LIVERPOOL MAKES HISTORY WITH 800TH BIRTHDAY YEAR

WASN'T that an utterly spectacular and fantastic start to Liverpool's 800th birthday celebrations?
The way that the Culture Company engaged all of the people of Liverpool right from the beginning of the year was immensely impressive.
Community engagement, genuine partnership working and a real creative impetus combined to give the anniversary year of 2007 a magnificent start.
No one on Merseyside can have failed to be impressed by what was on offer to celebrate this historic year.
It literally had everything.
And we are sure that further afield, in the corridors of power in Whitehall and amongst Britain's great cultural institutions, there was a pleasing recognition that Liverpool had made a huge contribution to world culture right at the start of this very special year for the city.
Such an impressive launch to 2007 certainly bodes exceedingly well for the rest of the year.
And its definitely one in the eye for all those nasty and prejudiced Jeremiahs who, with those typical Scouse whinges, had moaned and groaned about the Culture Company's plans for this year.
It was great to see the city council and the Culture Company so actively involved in providing civic leadership, putting into action a new political vision for Liverpool and finally helping to bring hope to some of the city's most deprived communities.
And after all, dear readers, that's what we are all about, isn't it?
We had to wipe away a tear from our eyes as we gratefully realised that we have been fundamentally wrong all along and these two great, powerful institutions are determined to make a real difference and to make Liverpool a force to be reckoned with once again in this, our anniversary year, with a truly world-beating offer of culture and heritage.

And to make such a brilliant start even more memorable, the planning and foresight that was shown in forseeing every eventuality shows how far the city has really come since it was last forced to cancel the traditional New Year's Eve firework display.
We really have learnt some tremendous lessons since those dark days haven't we?
Well done to everyone involved in kicking off 2007, Liverpools 800th birthday year in such spectacular fashion.
We are sure you will all wish to echo these words of gratitude.
We take back every word of utterly unfounded critiscism that we have ever uttered against the Culture Company, in particular, and the city council, which now can take its rightful place as one of the country's great municipal marvels.
We cannot apologise enough to Colin 'Cover up',(Colin Hilton, ed) The Harbarrowboy Boy (Jason Harbrow, ed) and to all of those moderately rewarded Directors and senior executives who were involved in this special launch for a very special year.
They should all be truly proud of the magnificent contribution they have already made to making 2007, Liverpool's 800th birthday, a really unforgettable year.
(Have I missed something, somewhere? ed)
(BFIA - Blog Friends International Award, ed)

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

BANNED AGAIN! Culture Company spin chief gives blog order of the boot!

CULTURE company spin king Paul Newman (also known as 'the invisible man', ed) has banned the blog again!
The move follows the city council's ban on the liverpoolevilcabal blog earlier this year, which badly backfired when it created huge national interest.
Not one to learn from such past mistakes, Newman has now ordered his news staff, under threat of disciplinary action, to stop sending us Culture Company press releases.
So while Newman is perfectly content to keep the Daily Mail, Express, Star, Sun and other national journals of ill-repute fed with Culture Company bollocks (which they all blissfully ignore anyway, ed) he has drawn the line at the Liverpool subculture blog.
"He doesn't like what you are saying about the company," explained one insider, "so he says that from now on you can get your information from elsewhere. We have been told we will be suspended if we send stuff out to you."
Quite how Newman justifies this selective distribution of public information (surely you mean Culture Company mallarkey? ed) is anyone's guess.
Perhaps a friendly councillor might have the temerity or the bottle to ask him the question. After all Newman is a public servant, publicly accountable, spendi

ng public money on public infor

mation. Or not, as the case may be.
Newm

an, the Director Of Communications, (we're not kidding, ed) has distinguished himself at the Culture Company by being indistinguishable from the wallpaper and by his willingness to say 'yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir' to anyone who cares to listen.
The loud critiscism of the Culture Company's failure to communicate anything decent, has been deafening. But Newman has so far escaped all responsibility. (Probably because no-one knows he exists or what he does, ed)
Apparently, our Christmas quiz was the source of much unhappiness inside the Fun Palace at Millennium House (and we thought this was the season to be jolly, ed) together with our affectionate and oft-repeated nickname for Jason the Harbarrowboy.
News officer Mike Doran had originally put us on the Culture Company's email list (thanks Mike, ed) but then the alarm was raised when Newman saw our site.
We were instantly removed from the list and told never to darken the Culture Company's doorstep ever again.
So as a result, we are going to slink off into a corner, lick our wounds and start to praise the Harbarrowboy and all who sail with him aboard the Titanic. Either that or we will be forced to cease production of this site entirely.
Only kidding. (He's had a few too many sherries with his mince pies folks, ed)
But you will be glad to learn that we do still have some loyal and kind friends amongst those who the Culture Company has deemed suitable to receive its words of wisdom.
They are happily forwarding on to us every press release, as soon as it is issued by Newman's loyal staff. So no harm done.
Not that we pay much attention to what is written, but, you will understand, its the principle of the thing, isn't it?
For when did official censorship become one of the Culture Company's 08 responsibilities?

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

CULTURE COMPANY BOARD RE-ARRANGES THE DECK-CHAIRS ON THE TITANIC

MAN ON BOARD!

The Philharmonic's chief exec, Michael Elliott has been brought on board the sinking ship of the Culture Company.
Elliott (known as 'Mick' to counter the Phil's famed cultural elitism) has been appointed for two days a week as yet another 'Cultural Advisor' following the departure of Robbing Archer.
Elliott's qualifications for this Titanic role are a bit of a puzzle.
First of all he is a bureaucract and has no cultural credentials whatsoever.
Secondly, the 'Phil' has always shown a lofty and arrogant disdain for 2008.
It was alone amongst the city's big cultural institutions in making hardly any contribution to the successful 2008 bid.
And it has been noticeable by its absence from all things Culture Company ever since.
The Phil is famous for always going its own way and doing its own thing - despite the heavy public subsidy it receives from the city council's taxpayers (a bumper £1.3million last time, ed.)
So if Elliott has been brought on board to try and tackle one of the Culture Company's biggest faults - the lack of consistent, comprehensive and sustainable engagement and involvement of Liverpool people - then he does not have a proud track record at the Phil.
After all, the Phil is hardly famed for serenading shoppers at Tescos, or inviting inner city kids backstage, or sending out string quartets to entertain the crowds at Anfield or Goodison, is it?
That would be mixing with the hoi polloi a bit too much, wouldn't it?
Far nicer to stay safe with its Wirral-based clique of conservative converts.
So our guess is that Elliott has been brought in to try and sort out the Culture Company bureacracy, which under The Chief Executive of Nothing, has signally failed to deliver anything whatsoever.

The official press release says this:

"Michael will work with the Culture Company Chief Executive, Jason Harborow, (thought the Harbarrowboy was still interim? ed) and the creative team (Robbing's nervous early appointments, ed) to advise on the Culture Company's planning and its relationship with the cultural organisations and practitioners in Liverpool and build on the already close links with the DCMS and Arts Council England. ( I don't understand a word of this either, but neither do they, so we can all remain in total ignorance, ed)

"He will also work closely with the Chief Executive in assessing the artistic and cultural structure required to manage the future development of the 2008 programme, its communication and delivery. " (gawd help us, ed)

In other words, Elliott has been brought on board at the last minute to try and keep the sinking ship afloat and:

a) to keep an eye on the money
b) to keep an eye on the bureaucracy
c) to keep an eye on The Harbarrowboy

Whether his appointment works, never mind reconciles the various warring factions on the Culture Company Board (of which more later, ed) remains to be seen.

The job should obviously have gone to Lewis Biggs, whose successful Biennial is one of the few cultural events to put the city on the international map, but he clearly refused to partake of the poisoned chalice.

Other things that should be said about Elliott:

1) Henshaw once memorably dismissed him as a 'lightweight' (that's recommendation enough then, ed)

2)Henshaw also conspired with Elliott and the shadowy Phil Chairman, Roger Lewis, into getting rid of former conductor Gerry Schwarz in the most disgraceful and shameful way. So Elliott is a ruthless hatchet man. (And we shall be watching Lewis in future, ed)

3) No one likes Elliott at the Phil.

So I wouldn't hold your breath for any great changes in direction as the Culture Company ship goes steaming towards the 2008 iceberg.

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?

Monday, October 29, 2007

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Monday, August 20, 2007

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Monday, August 06, 2007

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Friday, April 13, 2007

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Monday, February 12, 2007

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

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...