Tom Watson - Hypocrite?

It is a very simple question but Labour motorouth and Bermondsey resident Tom Watson still refuses to answer it! Is the "Derek Webb" who donated cash to Watson's constituency party, and which Watson himself declared on his Parliamentary Register of Interests, one and the same as the man standing next to him in this picture:

Why does this matter?

Firstly, you would have thought that someone who keeps opening his gob about transparency and freedom of information would be open and, er, transparent about his financiers. To refuse to give other than the statutory requirement - which does NOT identify the donor's identity adequately by address or otherwise - by this self-appointed champion of openness in public affairs may be viewed by some as rank hypocrisy. But there we are.....

Secondly, there are rules about MP's declaring a financial interest in an issue before speaking in Parliament. We don't know how long The Rutting Walrus has been associating with Webb but it does seem that the cash donations - channelled through his constituency Labour Party - were physically paid after his last pearls of wisdom on the issue at Westminster but if, as the, er, bookies suggest ("lol"), the folk of West Bromwich East are daft enough to re-elect this buffoon he MUST now declare that when he is opening the slot in the front of his mouth on gambling issues, someone called Derek Webb is shovelling coins in.

Thirdly, this hypocrite keeps shouting about banning Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBT's) without usually mentioning that he voted for the third reading of the LABOUR Gambling Bill which permitted the wretched things in the first place! Here is his voting record on gambling (which includes the infamous incident in December, 2013 when this gormless clown cocked-up and voted against his own campaign) and you will see that he was all for them in 2005!

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/11309/tom_watson/west_bromwich_east/divisions?policy=810

Now campaigning against something he voted for!

Incidentally, the multi-millionaire "Derek Webb" of the "Stop the FOBT's Campaign" claims to have also been making donations to the Lib Dems. I wonder if they declared this appropriately.....?

Thirdly, we all know Watson is a master of talking the talk but can he walk the walk? Having voted for FOBT's has he been diligent in bashing the bookies thereafter? We all know cases where he has let West Bromwich down badly (eg. The Public) but happily, he has, like all in Sandwell Labour, the uncritical backing of the Wolverhampton Labour propaganda machine, The Express and Star. Thus, by way of example, the arse-lickers ran a story on 23rd December, 2013:

"Mr Watson is calling on the Government to place betting shops in a new separate planning use class, allowing local authority planning committees to control them..."

What a shame that they were unable to find the space to tell the good people of West Bromwich East that when Parliament had voted on just this issue two years previously, Wealthy Watson was "absent":

"On 17 May 2011:

Tom Watson was absent for a vote on Localism Bill — New Clause 31 — Planning Permission for Betting Shops"

Fourthly, who IS "Derek Webb"? Let us assume for present purposes that the FOBT "Webb" IS indeed Watson's cash benefactor (neither of them will say). Like me, you may have assumed that various casino favourites like poker have been around since time immemorial and do not "belong" to anyone but, in fact, people like Webb invent variant games and then licence them to casinos. This is big business in Las Vegas and casinos across the world and it seems that ex-gambler Derek Webb was really very good at it, inventing games such as Three Card Poker.

****************************************************************

Someone, somewhere, must have been to Hull University with Watson. Did he get a degree or not? He refuses to say........

****************************************************************

This brought rich rewards to Webb who sold his company Prime Table Games LLC - registered in Nevada, USA - to Las Vegas-based Galaxy Gaming in 2011 for a whopping $23m including some Galaxy shares. (He had apparently previously sold other rights before this to another gaming company called Shufflemaster). Webb claims to have "ceased commercial activity" but it is difficult to verify this. He and his partner, Hannah O'Donnell, were operating two UK partnerships and £6.4m of the business sale went to "Prime Table Games UK". There is another partnership floating around called "D&H" - presumably "Derek and Hannah". A 2015 website for Prime Time Games states that the business "has no commercial functionality" but mysteriously states "The Prime Time Games poker asset will be disposed of in due course". The partnership used to work out of serviced offices at Castle Donington airport but later gave a "care of" address to the Advertising Standards Agency. It appears that Webb was on the electoral register in Littleover, the posh part of Derby (not in West Bromwich East, of course), in 2014 and was therefore legally entitled to make a donation to Labour even though the Guardian reported in 2013 that Derek "now lives mostly in an apartment in a Las Vegas luxury hotel". There are no addresses shown on his two campaigning websites.

Now I have to tread carefully here as I am told "gambling" Derek Webb is prone to instruct expensive lawyers when anyone treads on his toes and so I will simply but forward two statements without further comment:

Statement 1. Derek Webb is an all-round good guy who has made millions from the gaming industry and from people losing their money in casinos but is touched by the plight of people losing money on FOBT's. Thus he has set up and funded a secretive "not-for-profit" campaign with purely altruistic motives to help those poor unfortunates. He has - by his own statement - "ceased commercial activity".

Statement 2. Derek Webb still has interests in the casino card game industry - including a possible shareholding in Galaxy Gaming - which is losing business to FOBT's particularly in non-casino environments such as betting shops. Whilst our Derek's campaign is entirely altruistic, a "happy" side-effect of curbs on FOBT's may be an increase in people losing money instead via, er, casino table games.

Happily for Mr Webb, he seems able to make a distinction between someone losing their shirt slowly in a posh casino and someone ending up topless quickly at a slot machine in the semi-derelict West Bromwich High Street. Presumably Watson shares this odd view?

Being fair to Derek (I am not sure why I should be as he wants to keep his - if it be his - donation to Labour as secret as possible) he claims that the bookies are telling porkies. The big bookies say that the "take" or profit on FOBT's is around 3% and this is stated on the actual machines. Derek says this is a lie and the real take is more like 12%.

If the bookies are right then that would be a little unfortunate for Webb given some of his past statements eg. when trying to sell his Three Card Poker game - promising "big payouts on monster hands":

"With a mock-up of his game, Webb flew to gambling meccas such as Las Vegas; Reno; Tunica, Miss.; and Atlantic City, N.J., to sell his wares. He scheduled meetings with casino management. He explained the math, detailing the house edge of roughly 3.5 percent. Then he demonstrated his new game.

"You have to be able to talk on one level to the management about why the game will generate more revenue than some of the existing games that they've got," notes Webb."

In other words he was keen to market his own game at a higher return than the bookies are - allegedly - getting via FOBT's!

Fifthly, the man famously nick-named as "Ten Bellies" Watson (in the "Star" no less) is always jumping on bandwagons and embracing every leftie campaign around but insofar as he ever does purport to represent the unfortunate residents of West Bromwich East he has a number of constituents who are anti-gambling - eg the local Muslim community, some other faith groups and, seemingly, most of the sheep in the Council's Labour dictatorship!. I think they might be interested to know whether Watson and the local party have, on the face of it, taken some of the profits of gambling to finance his campaign!

Is it just me that finds it just a bit sickening that this great "tribune of the hard-left" is always spouting off about "the rich" and promising ever higher income tax, "mansion taxes" and the like and yet when a Derby/Las Vegas multi-millionaire suddenly wants to make a donation to Labour in the arse-end of the West Midlands the Nonce-Finder General can't get the receipt book out quick enough (though he then wants to keep the details away from his poor constituents)? Now don't forget to vote for Tommy next Thursday will you, suckers!

American Express? That will do nicely!

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - A COMMUNITY BLOG - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

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Confidential phone no: 07599 983737

Did He, Or Didn't He?

The thug who "runs" - bottom of most leagues - Sandwell Council, Labour's Darren Cooper - "The Turdmeister" - and the large network he has been actively engaging with have attempted massive psychological bullying of myself and my wife - an ex-employee who the charmless moron uses Twitter to publicly abuse as "Mrs Skidmark":

(He is commenting in the above on false information which had been deliberately fed to him!)

For months, Cooper himself and the trolls have claimed to have information on us which will lead to our "downfall" and, of course, the Labour "Leader" has teamed up with Unite the Union's Regional Organiser, Brian Rickers, to harass my wife's employers - a charity - and another charity where she is a (voluntary) trustee. Here is an earlier blog on the subject:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/labour-leader-unite-officer-harass-arts.html

Regular readers will be aware that the idiotic Cooper was recently subject to a "sting" (and Rickers fell for it too). False information was supplied to Cooper (see also above) which was then either passed to a troll (assuming the troll is not actually either or both of them) or used on their OWN Twitter accounts.

At least 10 (TEN!) troll accounts which Cooper and Rickers have been actively engaging with have now been suspended by Twitter.

Like many bullies, Cooper enjoys the psychological aspect of it all which obviously includes making menacing statements he does not actually carry out like his infamous personally-delivered threat to drive over and confront my wife at her place of work. This sort of stuff has gone on for a year now and, of course, Unite the Union have been regularly joining in.

Now here is a curiosity. When the major (and still ongoing) concerted troll campaign started at the end of November (with Cooper following the first troll even before the first tweet?!!?) "The Turdmeister threatened to "write" to my wife's employers exposing MY BLOG! As my wife is nothing to do with the blog and as her employers were already well aware of being harassed by Cooper and Rickers via social media I am not sure what this crazed individual hoped to achieve by this but the bully-boy tweeted TO ME:

"Just preparing my letter to [ publicly named Chair of Trustees of my wife's employer] drawing his attention to your blog and twitter".

This is vitally important since you will clearly see Cooper's motivation - it is solely intended to be damaging to me and unfortunately, by association, to my wife.

Please also note that Cooper would find it difficult to write a letter on his own and at the Council he has to have everything done for him including what he claims to be "his" blog.

But, once again, this scum could not resist continuing his wild and very public allegations that there was something untoward with the charity employing my wife (and at this stage he and Rickers kept claiming that I worked for the charity too):

Cllr Darren Cooper ‏@sandwellleader  Dec 4

@bcrover Info coming in on jobs for the boys & girls at well know [sic] charity. Is this true Jules #justasking

Cllr Darren Cooper ‏@sandwellleader  Dec 17

@bcrover Tell me when did your Wife start at the Charity? Can you tell me the date please.

This last was months AFTER the Labour Leader knew exactly where my wife was working and, as above, threatened to confront her there. It was designed simply to bully and harass.

This was also at the time when the trolls Cooper and Rickers were actively engaging with were also bombarding my wife's employers with dozens of tweets in similar vein.

Let us not forget that whenever there is a complaint to Sandwell Council about this moron's use of Twitter they pull up the drawbridge and fob everyone off with the comment that despite using "Cllr" and "sandwellleader" on his Twitter account, Cooper is "tweeting in a purely personal capacity". So what is a private individual from Smethwick doing harassing me, my wife and her employers - in particular, about my wife's employment?

But Cooper has become increasingly isolated from his erstwhile Labour cronies of late and has come to rely totally on Unite the Union scumbag, Rickers, who does NOT, incidentally, live in Sandwell but next door in Dudley. Once again why are two people claiming to act as private individuals ganging up on me - and my wife? Cooper tweeted this to his Unite operator just after the Christmas holiday:

The feeble-minded Cooper thought we would be bullied by this drip, drip, threat. How pathetic too that he openly claimed he had to discuss a course of action with Unite before he could do anything - hardly encouraging to the long-suffering folk of Sandwell he is supposed to represent.

But on the bullying went - this from a few days later to his Unite operator:

Cllr Darren Cooper ‏@sandwellleader  Jan 5

@brianrickers1 Be formally writing to that charity this week. Questions need answering Brian.

Drip, drip, drip - again to Unite:

And finally this piece of sh*t, "acting in a personal capacity", claimed to have actually written to my wife's employers. He again wrote to Rickers who re-quoted Cooper's tweet and added a quote of his own. Clearly the thought of this pair discussing my wife's employment situation over lunch is risible although they clearly wish to do her very real harm:

So did Cooper get his colouring book out and "write" to my wife's employers or was this just yet more psychological bullying from the Labour leader [sic] of a large metropolitan council? Alas, the next stage of this story must be left hanging in the air for the time being......

Nice guy though isn't he?

DS Wayne Haynes & Team still want to hear from anyone who has evidence of possible wrongdoing at Sandwell Council. Phone the Regional Fraud Team in confidence on 0121 251 2175. Please let me know if you have spoken with the police - again in confidence.

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - A COMMUNITY BLOG - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

E-mail:   thesandwellskidder@gmail.com              Twitter:  @bcrover (Vernon Grant)

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"The Best Interests of the Child are Paramount" - B*llocks!

We always hear the above quote from politicians, social services, police, lawyers, Uncle Tom Cobleigh and all, whenever yet another child has dropped out of view and become the victim of poverty or abuse.

Well "the interests of the child are paramount" does not apply with Labour Sandwell Council and Ofsted despite previous reports on the dire state of Labour Sandwell's Children's Services and the lessons from places like Rotherham. Remember here that we are dealing with the MOST vulnerable kids locally and the ones you would think an allegedly "caring" party like Labour would be bending over backwards to help. But not Labour in the perverted dictatorship that rules Sandwell and when there is an election just around the corner.

In 2013 Ofsted slammed the Labour Council for its grossly "inadequate" Children's Services and the cunning comrades duly made Cllr Bob Badham the fall guy and passed him the pearl-handled revolver. The homelessness charity worker, Cllr Simon "Two Homes" Hackett, then took over (see further below) since when Labour and their propaganda department in Wolverhampton, the Express and Star, have been boasting massive "improvements".

Here is a picture of Cllr Hackett in the "racing colours" of the real power behind Sandwell Labour:

Ofsted started further inspection on 28th January, 2015. That is THREE MONTHS AGO! The report has still not been released. Why if the best interests of the child are truly "paramount"? The answer is, of course, political, but surely Ofsted are supposed to be apolitical and act on the principle that, er, THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD ARE PARAMOUNT! What is going on here?

Let us take up the story as put forward by Labour's propaganda machine, the Express and Star. On February 26th Labour asked them to give them a, er, blow job  and The "Editor" and his team were happy to oblige. They reported - remember the date - 26th February - TWO MONTHS AGO - that the Ofsted had finished their inspection a week beforehand. Clearly the report would have to be prepared and then a draft was to be submitted to Sandwell Labour.

Despite the propagandists printing a gushing piece  that Labour "hoped" they would be graded above "inadequate" the whisper is that the inspection still found numerous failings. Whether the grading is improved there are still MAJOR issues that need to be addressed and NOW to protect and safeguard these vulnerable kids.

The rumour is that a draft report has been supplied to Labour but that they sent Ofsted a whole host of comments and representations to deliberately ensure that the issue of the report is delayed until after the election. It is even alleged (and I put it no higher than that) the report is ready for release but Labour are saying they cannot release it by law as the Council is in pre-election purdah. So "the best interests of the child are paramount", eh? No, they are not.

If the report is finalised I call upon Ofsted to publish and be damned as we know Labour won't but I also call on the Sandwell "socialists"  to publish anything "pre-purdah" which may include the draft report and any representations they made to delay the issue.

At present, Ukip have just one Councillor, Phil Garrett, ranged against the 70 (!) in the Labour dictatorship but he is the ONLY Councillor who has highlighted this scandal. As I understand it, he has now written twice to Ofsted and, unless there is something very recent, they have not even bothered to acknowledge his correspondence let alone deal with the substantive point! This is a disgrace.

I wonder if Labour know there is a major problem coming since on 21st April their big friends in Wolverhampton ran yet another puff piece saying that Sandwell was going to watch those in charge of protecting children more closely to ensure that something like Rotherham doesn't happen locally (assuming it hasn't already, of course). You would have thought that with an "inadequate" Ofsted rating from 2013 Labour might have worked this out for themselves and not needed the Rotherham scandal to highlight this ghastly issue but there we are.

This propaganda piece quoted Labour Cllr Steve Eling. Now that Mahboob Hussain has stood down he is the sole, current, "Deputy Leader" of Sandwell Labour. Besides probably being the most boring man on the planet, he lied to the Express and Star about the costs of the casino debacle (they printed it regardless and have NEVER amended it in the light of the facts) and he was, seemingly, the sole "brains" behind the disastrous "unlawful and discriminatory" (the words of a High Court Judge not mine) Council Tax Benefit legal case disaster that has cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds (as a result of Eling's plan Sandwell lost a grant of £675,000 plus had to pay huge legal costs etc).

Here is what Eling told the propagandists:

"The council's deputy leader Steve Eling said all councils had a responsibility to ensure the Rotherham scandal could not be allowed to happen again.

He said: "Because of what happened there is now heightened attention around the issue and making sure it doesn't get repeated anywhere else.

"Everywhere else wants to make sure it's not going to be repeated on their patch." 

Express and Star - 21/04/15

What the joke "Star" neglected to tell folk, of course, is that "Mogadon Man" Eling has been employed for a number of years - whilst the sickening abuse was happening - as a "Policy Officer" (though not apparently in a politically-restricted post) with - yes, you guessed it - that paragon of rectitude, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council! Not that he know anything about it, natch....

(Incidentally, if you live in Abbey Ward and are a moron you will have the opportunity next week to re-elect Steve Eling for another disastrous term. Good luck!)

Labour are making sure that we, the public, don't get to see the report this side of the election but I wonder whether its contents are now well-known to the useless sheep in the Labour "Group" and whether it was this that sparked Hackett's recent revolt? Last time around, the woman-bullying "Leader", Cooper, managed to deflect the flak from himself by scapegoating Badham but this time his own position must surely become even more untenable than it already is, with his other antics. If the report is "inadequate" or still discloses major faults then, given all his comments about the "great improvements", you would think he was a dead man walking. Equally, Hackett knows full well that Cooper will attempt to knife him in the back to save his own skin. Was this why Hackett tried to get the first punch in with his (allegedly Watson-supported) rebellion at the recent Labour Group?

Of course, Sandwell Council have an obligation by law to safeguard at-risk kids whereas they have no legal obligation to spend shed-loads of money on The Albion Foundation. I pointed this out some time ago and was attacked by some who wilfully tried to twist what I was saying. I appreciate that the Foundation do some amazing work and I truly hope they will continue to grow and prosper. The charity gets some considerable help from the likes of the super-wealthy Premier League but the thrust of my argument was that the Club should pick up the lion's share of the remaining costs and not the taxpayer. Sandwell are not protecting the vulnerable kids they are required by law to protect and so Labour should not be spending huge sums on the masturbatory fantasies of the ludicrous Leader, "Baggies-mad" Cooper, like the Foundation and the "Three Degrees" statue. (I do appreciate that some of the Children's Services kids also benefit from some Foundation schemes, of course).

But Sandwell Labour are obsessed with spending our money on sport (even with BORROWED money) at the expense of everything else. As far as the Foundation is concerned their latest accounts are now available (but only to 30th June, 2014) but the Council's own "payments over £500" list (which obviously does not include payments under £500) shows that in its last financial year (when it axed services and people) it still stumped up AT LEAST £95,636.34p of our money by way of an enforced "donation". Did Labour ever ask you if you wanted to pay this?

As with most things in Sandwell, Labour try to get their sweaty palms on the levers of control and have put a placeman on the board of trustees - ironically, in this case, "Two Homes" Hackett. But unlike most of Sandwell's prostitute organisations at least the Foundation are not bending to the perverted political will. The moronic Cooper constantly rails about the Tory "free schools" and yet this little gem appears in the Foundation's accounts:

"We are in the process of applying to become a Free School which will enable us to improve the quality of our teaching and learning and the number of pupils we can support". Oh dear!!!!

So whilst the taxpayer is stumping up nearly one hundred grand via Labour what are the Football Club doing? The accounts show the Club as a "related party" and three of the trustees are also employees of the Club in the last accounts. Of course, many of us love The Baggies but at the end of the day the Club itself is very far from being a charity and is a hard-nosed business organisation.

I understand that the Club used to provide facilities for the charity but stopped this and the latest accounts show the Foundation spending a substantial £44,752 per annum on "property costs". It is said in the accounts that the Club provide facilities for "meetings and lessons" etc but it is not clear whether this is free or the Charity has to pay WBAFC for this "service".

The Club get all the economic advantages of the Charity using the Club's colours & logo etc to add valuable goodwill to the WBAFC "brand" and the Charity also acts to some degree as a scouting tool for the team. Bizarrely the accounts still show that one of the Charity's "strategic principles" is "to add value to West Bromwich Albion Football Club" - a commercial entity! How this is allowed by the Charity Commission is beyond me but Sandwell Labour are happy to hand over our dosh regardless.

Last year, I pointed out that whilst the taxpayer was forking out in a period of austerity, the Club was not. In the previous financial year the donation from rich Premier League WBA was just £20,000! And so what of the last financial year - well read it for yourselves:

"During the year, The Albion Foundation received £nil by way of donation from West Bromwich Albion Football Club".

Shame on WBAFC! Come on you Baggies - you did a great job for Jeff Astle - now let the Board know what you think about this scandalous situation!

And we ALL have a responsibility to those kids being let down so badly by Sandwell Labour. Let us see the Ofsted report and clear out the dead wood NOW.

Now don't forget to vote Labour if you want this sort of crap to continue in the socialist "paradise" of Sandwell.....

Remember the police Regional Fraud Team still want to hear from you if you have evidence of potential wrong-doing at Sandwell Council - speak in confidence to DS Wayne Haynes & Team on 0121 251 2176

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - A COMMUNITY BLOG - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

E-mail: thesandwellskidder@gmail.com              Twitter:  @bcrover (Vernon Grant)

Confidential phone no: 07599 983737

SMBC - Another Big Police Cover-Up!

West Midlands Police are letting the people of Sandwell down very badly indeed.

In my recent blog:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/technical-blog-smbc-west-midlands-police.html

I pointed out their total failure to investigate the various Labour councillors who gave false declarations in the Register of Interests. I am told that these issues are now "with" the professional standards department......

But of much greater significance is, of course, the ongoing fraud enquiry. Regular readers will know that I have been the conduit for passing information from concerned individuals to the Police. Further, others have contacted the Police direct but contacted me to let me know. Of course, there are likely to have been a number of persons who have contacted them of whom I am not aware.

The Police have been investigating some land sales by Labour but a number of other issues have arisen. It now seems that the Police have done sod-all in respect of these other matters which is particularly galling as I have deliberately NOT followed up a number of these issues for this blog on the basis that they were doing so. Even worse, in one particularly egregious case they actually asked me in writing to back off because of an alleged investigation which has not actually been taking place! This is item 14 in the letter below where the information was given direct to the Police by an ex-police officer who was duly seen and interviewed.

All this is brilliantly convenient for Sandwell Labour since, with such a short time to go before the election, there is now no possibility whatsover of researching these matters and exposing information before polling day.

It gets even worse in that Sandwell Council have refused to answer certain Freedom of Information requests on the basis of the ongoing police investigations when these investigations have not been taking place. Needless to say I will be following these up on your behalf but, again, there is little possibility of Labour authorising speedy disclosure before the election.

Of course, the woman-bullying "leader" of  Sandwell Labour, Darren "The Turdmeister" Cooper, is - unbelievably - Chair of the West Midlands Police and Crime Panel. How very helpful!

 I will have to go through the rigmarole of the police complaints procedure again but it is disgusting that witnesses have put forward evidence and then been totally ignored. Despite that, it is still important that if you have evidence, you should still speak in confidence to DS Wayne Haynes and his team at the Regional Fraud Team on 0121 251 2176 but I think we now need to monitor this shocking situation very carefully and it would be helpful if you could let me know the substance of your conversation. Similarly, if YOU have already given evidence to the Police which you think they have also ignored, please contact me - anonymity guaranteed if required.

Unfortunately the letter I sent to the Police set out below is heavily redacted but I hope it will give you at least the gist of this appalling situation. Leaving aside the issue of the land sales, you will see that I set out a list of 14 (fourteen) other issues which I personally know about. That is not an exhaustive list in itself and I am sure there are people who have raised issues I don't know about. I DO know, for example, that the issue of vote-rigging has been raised by some (not by me) and you would have thought the Police might have taken this seriously after the Tower Hamlets affair but apparently not.

May I also make it absolutely clear, and so that there is no misunderstanding, that a number of the issues set out below (including redacted ones) have been raised by concerned members of the Sandwell Muslim community who have been brave enough to speak out against the Labour dictatorship.

Of the 14 issues in the letter the Police have confirmed that they are, in fact, investigating just one - item 6 (the Police need to be allowed to do what little they are actually doing and so I have redacted this item).

Item 1 is redacted but deals with what you and I would deem to be very serious offences in respect of property.

Item 2 deals with the 5 Star taxi contract where (then) Deputy Leader Mahboob Hussain "forgot" to mention his interest in 5 Star when bidding for two SMBC contracts one of which has paid his company in excess of £100,000. How is this NOT being investigated??????

Item 3 deals with events some time back but there has been a fairly recent and unexplained release of a restrictive covenant by persons "unknown" at SMBC allowing the former charity's property in Church Street, Oldbury to be sold on by a private individual.

Item 7 deals with the sale of the Florence Road site to Cllr Rouf's son (see posts passim) and SMBC have been blocking the provision of information on this. I will be submitting a detailed FOI on your behalf imminently.

Item 8 this deals with the mysterious sale of a property to Labour's Cllr Bawa - see my post:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/a-curious-option-on-councillor-bawas.html

Here is the Freedom of Information Act request I put in way back in October but SMBC refused to answer because of the "ongoing investigation" which we now know hasn't been ongoing at all! I am re-submitting it today to the Council:

Sent: 23/10/2014 12:40:52
Subject: Freedom of Information Request - Sale of Land at Bridge Street, Oldbury - 2000

Dear Sirs,

On 7th April, 2000 you conveyed a plot of land at Bridge Street, Oldbury to
Babu Singh Bawa. Curiously the transaction appears to have included an
option to repurchase the land.

Please state:

1. The extent of the plot sold;
2. The sale price;
3. Whether Babu Singh Bawa was a Councillor as at the date of the
transaction;
4. Whether SMBC did, in fact, repurchase the land. If not, why not?

This event was some time ago but please state any efforts made to market
the land, details of other offers received etc.

Yours faithfully,

Item 9 again relates to sales at undervalues by Labour sometimes subject to restrictive covenants which - as in item 3 above - can then be secretly lifted without the taxpayer being any the wiser. See previous posts on this subject - in particular in respect of the massive piece of land sold to Tipton mosque for just £25,000!

Item 14 is the one where the retired police officer was involved and I was asked by the Police not to blog about because of the ongoing investigation! Well I have been well and truly shafted here! Given the evidence presented to the police in respect of this issue, this will undoubtedly be the subject of a formal complaint to the Chief Constable. It is redacted at present but relates to at least one Labour Councillor (allegedly) conspiring to pervert the course of justice - a serious matter!

Items 10, 11. 12. 13 and 15 all concern named individuals including Labour Councillors AND specific (current) SMBC employees.

There is indeed something rotten in the Socialist State of Sandwell!

Letter - hand-delivered 17/04/15:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx                                                                 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

West Midlands Police                                                          xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxx                                                                        17/04/15

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Birmingham xx xxxx

BY HAND

Dear DI xxxxxx,

Please note that this letter is NOT intended to be “private & confidential” and that I reserve the right to use it in redacted or unredacted form in my blog as I see fit.

I do appreciate, however, that there are certain operational matters that should not be placed in the public domain at this time. If you are going to bother to reply, you should note that anything NOT marked specifically as “confidential” may be placed in the public domain in either redacted or unredacted form as I see fit.

My main purpose in writing is that following xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I am concerned as to the actual scope of the current Regional Fraud Team investigation into Sandwell Council. I am also perplexed as to why there has apparently been xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

May I say here that a number of people have risked their jobs to pass information to the police (via me and otherwise) concerning the activities of the Council and others - including myself - have even put our personal security in jeopardy. It would be extremely annoying, to say the least, if the Police are not doing anything with the information myself and others have been passing on. Speaking for myself, I have deliberately avoided researching various aspects of Sandwell’s activities on the basis that the matter was now in the hands of the police and I did not want to tread on your toes.

It was left with DS Haynes that he would simply acknowledge information that I passed to him but that he would be unable to give me information about operational matters and we have both proceeded on that basis. I accepted that but I am beginning to wonder whether I have done the right thing. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In the circumstances (and I appreciate that there may be some issues here that overlap to an extent) can you please indicate whether the Regional Fraud Team are ACTIVELY investigating the following matters:

1 xxxxx - xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

2 Five Star Taxi Contracts - the circumstances surrounding the grant of taxi licences to Hussain’s Five Star (and a possible related xxxxxxxxxxxx issue)?

3 The demise of the Sandwell Muslim Organisation?

4 Property dealings of the xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?

5 General allegations of money laundering and the transfer of funds to xxxxxxxxxxx?

6 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?

7 Sale of the Florence Road, Smethwick site to Cllr Rouf’s son?

8 Sale of property in Bridge Street to Cllr Bawa?

9 Sale of land and release of covenants in respect of various mosques?

10 Possible xxxxxxxx of monies from xxxxxxxxxxx to xxxxxxxxxxxxx?

11 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx? [A named employee of SMBC]

12 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?

13 Cllr xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?

14 The xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx? (This is particularly annoying as an ex-police officer also reported this to you and I have been told to back off and yet as far as I can tell there are people holding dossiers of information whom you have STILL not got round to approaching).

15 Certain Council officers who xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I reserve the right to contact you further in respect of other issues but it goes without saying that I am assuming (and I don’t know) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

End.

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - A COMMUNITY BLOG - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

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Sandwell's Trappists.

Darren "The Turdmeister" Cooper and Tom "The Rutting Walrus" Watson are two of the biggest gob-shites in the Labour Party but are still refusing to answer legitimate questions raised by this blog - so let's try again! (Of course, if YOU know any of the answers here - please contact The Skidder!).

Wealthy Watson (who filled in individual voter registration documents claiming to be living for a substantial part of the year in one of the Sandwell houses owned by homelessness charity worker Cllr Simon "Two Homes" Hackett but has used an address in, er, Bermondsey, London on his election papers) has been speaking in Parliament against Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBT's) but has never declared any sort of financial interest. (Of course, this egomaniac infamously went through the wrong lobby at Westminster on one of the votes on this subject and voted against his own campaign!).

Watson has declared cash donations of £5,500 from a private individual, "Derek Webb", but when I checked the money had actually been paid to his West Bromwich East constituency Labour Party (although they only declared £5,000). Now there just happens to be a chap called "Derek Webb" who runs a shadowy organisation called "The Campaign for Fairer Gambling" and the "Stop the FOBT's" campaign. Here he is in the centre of this picture outside Parliament, standing next to The Walrus himself:

Now I have been writing to Watson, to the Campaign and to the Campaign's representative asking the simple question - is Derek Webb of the Campaign one and the same person as the cash donor? But despite repeated requests no answer has been forthcoming either way which is strange....

I don't know about you readers, but I rather want to find out if, on gambling issues, every time Wealthy Watson opens the slot in the front of his face a man called Derek pops another coin in?

Of course, The Walrus is still refusing to say whether he got a degree at Hull University following his time there or not. Recently, Watson was gobbing off again about Labour improving the Freedom of Information Act (which will go down well with his crafty comrades at SMBC who hate the Act and regularly abuse its provisions). Well I made a FOI request to Hull Uni and they would not reply as the request dealt with "personal issues". They said they could reply if Watson waived his right to privacy on the subject. So come on then "Mr Freedom of Information" - either just tell us or send me a signed waiver and I will apply to Hull again? Simples!

Last Sunday I revealed that having got rid of The Liar Cashmore from Bristnall, Labour had selected in her place Carol "The Debtor" Goult. The insolvent Goult - who can't manage her own finances but wants you to vote for her so that she can manage yours - entered into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement to avoid personal bankruptcy. If she has paid off her debts the IVA is usually removed from public records after three months but it is still being shown as current. The Skidder team have shown that Debtor Carol is one and the same person as Bristnall's Labour candidate but Labour are refusing to say if the IVA is, indeed, still ongoing? Voters need to know this!

Funnily enough, one Stephen Goult of the same address as The Debtor Carol is ALSO subject to an IVA from the same date in October, 2011.

Labour are refusing to confirm or deny that one of their other 23 candidates was convicted of benefit fraud in the 1990's. Why?

The woman-bullying troll, Cooper, is still refusing to say why he told people a curious tale concerning his home extension loan and there remains total silence concerning the serious accident involving his vehicle outside Brandhall Labour Club in 2008. He admits it happened and says he "was found not to be at fault" so why all the secrecy?

Needless to say the sleazy socialists have not provided information in respect of the Three Degrees Statue scandal and Sunny Jim Cadman has failed to respond to the open letter I sent him with a list of legitimate questions. See my blog post:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/three-degrees-open-letter-to-cadman.html

This blog has raised many other issues that remain outstanding. The bent ice rink "deal" will be the subject of a further post soon but the current " white elephant in the room" is 1 Providence Place. Labour are still trying to keep it secret how much they paid for this huge building - believed to be in excess of £20m - and, more to the point, what they are going to do with it now they have wasted taxpayers' hard-earned on it.

The Labour dictatorship in Sandwell has 70 of the 72 seats and the lack of any serious opposition to hold them to account and to scrutinise their ludicrous activities is proving to be a disaster for the Borough. They are a law unto themselves (although the High Court has slapped them down twice recently at huge cost to the taxpayer - the socialists being happier to put money in the pockets of lawyers to fight hopeless cases than to improve local services).

The story is that Labour will move from the Oldbury Kremlin to the taxpayers' new £20M+ building in West Bromwich but that all the Labour Councillors have agreed not to mention this until after the election as the move will have dire consequences for the already down-at-heel town of Oldbury.

UKIP's sole current Councillor, Phil Garrett, asked a specific question about this at a full Council meeting. I was there. He asked the moronic Cooper if SMBC was moving its headquarters from Oldbury to West Bromwich. The clown "leader" gave a one-word and absolutely unequivocal answer, "No".

Now there are legal issues as BT still have a (part) lease until October, 2017 but Cooper has clearly ruled out the possibility of a move.

So what are Labour planning to do with the monumentally expensive building? How does Cooper's no doubt absolutely truthful answer in a public meeting square with this from the report to the Council's own Cabinet (presided over by The Turdmeister himself) of June, 2014:

"1.1

......This is a state of the art building capable of meeting the Council’s long term accommodation requirements.   

1.4

...... The acquisition of the head leasehold interest would provide the Council with a modern headquarters facility in the heart of West Bromwich that will meet the Council’s accommodation requirements in future years.  

5.1

.... The proposed acquisition will consolidate the Council interest in West Bromwich and, in the longer term, provide a flagship Head Quarters facility that will meet the Council’s accommodation requirements for the foreseeable future.

5.2  

The proposed acquisition will provide BREEAM excellent accommodation for Sandwell employees. The property was constructed in 2011 and has all the requirements of a modern office block. This will be of benefit to the Council employees working within the property.

5.3 

The financial advantage to the Council starts to materialise in 2017 and in the longer-term there are significant savings to the Council by virtue of the ownership of the flagship Head Quarters property in West Bromwich.

6.3

... It also delivers the advantage of acquiring a substantial asset that the Council is able to occupy as its premier head quarters facility.

6.4 

Additionally it is anticipated that this property will become a major component within the office portfolio. The Office Accommodation Strategy has been amended to reflect the importance of this office facility and its significant contribution to be able to deliver services to the residents of Sandwell."

It should be specifically noted that the sleazy socialists tried to keep the above document secret. They redacted it in it's entirety from the publicly-available cabinet agenda and then refused to disclose it when I made a Freedom of Information Act request for it. I had to apply under the Act for an internal review to get it. But that is the way Labour operate locally. We are scum and we are not allowed to know anything.

Now there are only three possible scenarios here:

1. Something has changed eg BT are not moving in 2017 or some other issue has arisen - in which case the public still need to know what the comrades intend to do with this incredibly expensive building;

2. Labour SMBC, having now bought the building. have decided in secret not to move. In which case where is the documentation surrounding this resolution?; or

3. Cooper is lying (and the whole of the Labour Group are conniving with him).

Now (3) couldn't possibly be true so we need some hard facts here! Even the absurd Turdy can't have two "headquarters" buildings in Oldbury AND West Bromwich (Why aren't the mainstream media picking this up?)

Oh, and by the way - Sandwell is awash with cheap office accommodation but megalomaniac Cooper and his so-called "socialist" cronies demand a "flagship" and a "state of the art" building even when blaming "the Tories" for "cuts".  Happily, all us taxpayers may be going to pay for it for them.

Vote Labour y'all!!!!!

If you have evidence of possible wrongdoing by Sandwell Council you can speak in confidence to DS Wayne Haynes and the police Regional Fraud Team on 0121 251 2175.

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - A COMMUNITY BLOG - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

E-mail: thesandwellskidder@gmail.com              Twitter: @bcrover (Vernon Grant)

Confidential phone no: Now 07514 046661

Farewell Dear Bob!

DUE TO AN ONGOING LEGAL DISPUTE A FACTUALLY ACCURATE DESCRIPTION OF DARREN COOPER HAS BEEN TEMPORARILY REDACTED.

I don't think Bob Woods is the only gay in The Lyng but I will hazard a guess that he is the cleverest, wittiest and most honest.

Leftie with a conscience.

Alas, Bob is leaving us this week to return to his homeland and he will be sadly missed in Sandwell -except by the local Labour politburo and their Unite controller:

If you are new to this blog there are links at the bottom of this page to Bob's two guest blogs. Bob is Labour and Trade Union through and through (though of the thinking variety rather than the blind, ignorant, "follower" type). I have had many debates with him over a glass or three when he has tried to convince me of the dubious merits of millionaire, North London posh boy, "Red" Ed Miliband and, even more improbably, of ex-public schoolboy and one-man economic disaster-zone, Ed Balls-Up.

Besides being "Labour" Bob has been an industrious trade union official. He still turns up at trade union conferences assisting Workstress:

http://www.workstress.net/

If you like leftie stuff you should follow his erudite Twitter account @brummytaff where he is particularly strong on linking to some really interesting articles/writings.

When he moved to Sandwell he naturally joined the local Labour Party. Little did he realise then that the party "brand" had been well and truly poisoned locally and that years of one-party rule had transformed what is supposed to be a caring, humane, party into a vile North Korean-style dictatorship.

But Bob was a regular user of The Public and saw at close quarters the utterly cynical way Mahboob Hussain and his sidekick, Kim Jong-Cooper, went about destroying it because they "didn't like it". He witnessed the bent College deal where, when things were not being deliberately kept secret from the people, huge lies were being told (including in official Council records); where the College was gifted a second £70m public building at no rent with the Council still paying to maintain the building; where a huge petition against closure was openly mocked and derided by the moronic Labour "leader"; where the laughable Tom Watson said he was going to "get involved" and his Labour comrades put two fingers up and announced closure just six HOURS later; where a ruse was used to gift a multi-million contract to a favoured contractor without tender etc etc etc. And so Bob had the intelligence to start asking questions about this bent deal, via his Twitter account....

Of course, the xxxxx-xxxxxxxx xxxx [factually accurate description temporarily redacted] Cooper, and his Labour cronies, will not tolerate opposition nor dissent so that Bob was immediately ostracised and then intimidated. He started to be attacked on Twitter and, in a particularly infamous example, Labour Councillors Cooper,  weirdo Cllr Sandars and the cipher Cllr Moore ganged up to attack and abuse him - a fellow Party member - for having the temerity to attend a public Cabinet meeting!

Things quickly took a more sinister turn when he was accosted in the Kebub Restaurant, West Bromwich, and threatened about his use of Twitter against the activities of the local party. The Police were informed (for what use that is in Sandwell).

Nothing could be proven to link the following with the local Party but Bob then suffered some small acts of vandalism at his home culminating in a burglary.

The vile Cooper and his big Unite the Union pal, Regional Organiser Brian Rickers, together with numerous troll accounts, then launched a sustained social media attack against him, christening him "Booby" or variations thereof - yet more demeaning and offensive conduct against a Party member. Talking of members, the odious "leader" even lied in a twitter "conversation" with one of the trolls that he had spoken to one of Bob's ex-boyfriends about the size of Bob's penis. Can you believe that from the person who is supposed to be the lead representative of a troubled Borough desperately in need of inward investment, vitally-needed jobs etc and who advertises his babyish babblings on the Council website and on his taxpayer-funded business card. Is it any wonder that Sandwell sinks ever lower, business people ignore these buffoons and look elsewhere, the Council is being taken to the cleaners by the Courts and the Borough is becoming a laughing-stock?

I cannot resist putting this screenshot up again. Not only does it show the "clever" leader [sic] himself using the insulting epithet "Booby" but the dimwitted bully actually manages to also spell a word incorrectly TWICE in one short Tweet (and so no surprise then that Cooper easily won the national competition to find "Britain's Thickest Council Leader????)

Incidentally, although the above tweet was addressed to the Unite scumbag the almost immediate response was from the troll account @brumskidder. It was about "Boooby" and was sent to both of these bullies. Cooper himself then responded to the troll and to Unite's thug calling Bob "a despicable little creature"!

Darren Cooper has tried to silence me for a considerable time and in a concerted campaign he and the trolls managed to get my Twitter accounts suspended. The trolls crowed about the planned and jointly-executed enterprise and made it quite plain that Bob would face the same treatment (in their usual illiterate fashion):

Like many of the other troll accounts associated with this local authority "leader" and the Unite "Organiser" [sic], Twitter eventually suspended this account and then, as with the others, allowed it to continue (before final suspension). No sooner had this account come live again than this threat was immediately made to Bob:

(For full details of the suspended troll accounts in the current campaign please see:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/miliband-favourite-keeps-on-trolling.html )

And then came perhaps the most sinister episode of all. Cooper and Rickers were associated with numerous troll accounts including one mentioned above, named @brumskidder. Bob was having some medical treatment and went along to The Lyng NHS Surgery. He was seen and asked to come back again the following day. He visited the post office and returned home. Absolutely no-one bar Bob and the staff at the Surgery knew about the booking of a further appointment the following day.

That night this appeared from the troll @brumskidder:

"Interesting call Today regarding Booby. How the trip to Lyng Centre and post office booby".

OK, someone may have been spying on him but how does one explain what happened next? The same troll posted another tweet - copying in Cooper and Rickers (and also the mysterious "Paul Reeves" who is another "person" actively engaging with that pair and many of the troll accounts):

"BooBy tomorrow Lyng Centre again!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx @sandwellleader @brianrickers1 @paulsgardens1"

So what is that all about? (Incidentally, Bob made an official complaint to the NHS who allegedly investigated and pronounced that they were mystified about the whole affair).

Sandwell Police have also dismissed the harassment of Bob by the trolls on the unbelievable ground - I kid you not - that by calling him Booby they may be referring to someone else! Doesn't give you much confidence in their detection skills, eh readers? Try this little test to see if you are cleverer than those Sandwell Council-loving guys'n'gals in blue - do you think these two tweets might indicate a possible link between "Boooby" and "Bob Woods"?:

(Incidentally the information in these two tweets is false! Bob and I were not at what the trolls call a meeting but which everyone else would call two - other - guys having a pint!))

So local Labour and their Union backers have joined with trolls to relentlessly attack one of their own. Think on in Sandwell if this is the sort of foul regime you want to vote for locally in May!

But how fantastic that Bob is an independent spirit who will expose wrong-doing when he sees it unlike so many of the grovellers in Sandwell who keep their heads down just so that they get a few quid here and there from the squalid "socialists". Mind you, Bob has been equally scathing about my good self (although usually in private). It is fair to say that he likes the substance of my blog but not the "style" (if it can be called that!) I will greatly miss his early morning harangues about my "purple prose" where I listen politely and then totally ignore him (sorry Bob!) I am sure when he reads my comments about superhero Ed above he will be choking on his muesli. We have been odd companions over the last few months but, even if I do ignore him - more than - occasionally, I do respect him enormously. What a shame there aren't more around like him to help clean up the rotten Borough.

So farewell old boy. You WILL be missed. Linda and I are looking forward to coming down to South Wales to see you soon. Indeed I have been regularly placing a coathanger (as opposed to the usual foot) in my mouth to practice the Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaar - diff accent!

Be Happy!

Jules.

Here are Bob's two guest posts on this blog:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/guest-post-no-1-robert-bob-woods.html

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/guest-blog-no-3-bob-woods-carry-on-at.html

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - A COMMUNITY BLOG - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

E-mail:  thesandwellskidder@gmail.com             Twitter:  @bcrover (Vernon Grant)

Confidential phone no: 07599 983737