Message to Mayoral Candidate Cooper

This is an open letter which I have today sent to Cllr Darren Cooper, the leader [sic] of Sandwell Council and someone who has stated his intention to run for the Labour nomination as Metro Mayor for the new combined authority [sic] aka Greater Birmingham.

Labour have ignored, and even encouraged, Darren Cooper's activities but I hope wiser heads will begin to take notice now that there is at least a possibility of him becoming the Mayor and turning the region into a world-wide laughing-stock.

Recently, Brum's Jess Phillips MP suffered horrendous abuse via Twitter which was rightly condemned by colleagues such as Stella Creasy. It would be nice to think that such strong personalities will show further female solidarity and would take the abuse of my wife in particular up with the "powers" that be in the Labour Party to ensure that this sort of conduct by party members is no longer tolerated - particularly against innocent members of the public. We shall see....

Letter (redacted):

Dear Cllr Cooper,

I note that you took to Twitter over the weekend to write to your latest troll associate threatening to use West Midlands Police (WMP) again to silence The Sandwell Skidder blog.

We have, of course, been here before. You made the bizarre allegation that you were “alarmed and distressed” within the meaning of s. 2 Protection from Harassment Act, 1997 by use of the satirical and lampooning names “The Txxxxxxxxxx”, “The Txxxxx Txxxx” and “Txxxxx” to describe you and also because I used the factually accurate terms “wxxxx-xxxxxxxx xxxx”, “sxxx”, “txxxx mxxxx” and “bxxxx-xxx” about you.

As you know, I was hauled into Brierley Hill Police Station by your friends at WMP and grilled about this. In the hiatus that followed, I temporarily removed the above-mentioned words whilst I took legal advice (a process that is ongoing) and I specifically reserve the right to reinstate the original text at any time.

I explained to the Police that this was farcical and that you and your cronies (who the police took a dim view of you dragooning into making spurious allegations about me) would simply keep making more and more allegations every time I wrote a blog you disapproved of and have them threaten me

with criminal proceedings.

It is noteworthy that you are the Chair of the Police and Crime Panel and should be well aware of the fragility of police resources at the present time. You have never sought any civil remedy against me because you don’t have one - my blog being factually accurate. Rather, you have sought to use your position to have the police threaten my liberty and seek to act as censors of the common law of free speech and to curb my rights to freedom of expression pursuant to the Human Rights Act, 1998. Now you are claiming to be at it again.

You have never complained about anything in the blog in any logical way - just some abusive twitter. Now that you have announced your desire to seek the Labour candidature of the Metro Mayor position that you claimed to be so strongly against, all the media in the West Midlands (with the exception, of course, of your friends at the Wolverhampton Express and Star) will be holding your dubious abilities and behaviour up to the glaring light of scrutiny.

If you are going to seek to have WMP censor anyone who expresses opposition to you, may I invite you to reply with a list of words and expressions which you are likely to find “alarming and distressing” in the context of your personal and political record. At least media organisations, including my humble community news service, can then be aware that publishing same and criticising you may be a criminal offence liable to imprisonment.

I wish to take this opportunity to request that YOU now desist from associating with troll accounts on Twitter. It is now almost the first anniversary of your troll associates starting a vicious campaign against me and my wife. You have directly associated yourself now with 15 troll accounts which you are well aware have poured forth the most vile filth and abuse about me and, more particularly, my wife (who has no connection with my blog whatsoever). You, and your associate, have also harassed two Birmingham Arts organisations and hijacked a photograph of a brilliant group of volunteers at the Birmingham Hippodrome to try and attack me via my wife. You have directly sought to have my wife suspended or dismissed from her current post. This behaviour from a senior local politician really is “alarming and distressing” and I am publicly requesting you to stop it.

Whilst you have run to your friends at WMP weeping about “name-calling” you, yourself, have attacked and abused myself and my wife (even threatening to “confront” her at her place of work for unspecified reasons). I was able to supply evidence of this to the Police whilst defending myself including, by way of just one example,, three pages of instances of you describing me as “Skidmark” and my wife as “Mrs Skidmark”. WMP have at least given me some helpful advice with regard to all that.

You are also aware that my wife specifically complained to you and to Sandwell Council about your use of the sexist and derogatory term “wifey” to describe her and yet you were at it again over the weekend on Twitter. Once again, I publicly ask you to desist from this wholly inappropriate behaviour.

Julian Saunders

ADDENDUM 26/11/15:

Here are two emails which I sent to Mr Cooper on 24th November, 2015. I have had no response.

Dear Mr Cooper,

Further to my email of 23rd November, 2015, I am told that your social media spokesperson, Andrew Hipkiss, has put up another of his grossly defamatory "blogs".

For the benefit of the public, can you please confirm whether or not you authorised the blog and, if so, whether the contents represent your own response to the email sent to you?

I note that. to date, you have been careful not to retweet the defamatory "blogs" of Hipkiss and I would respectfully remind you that your purported waiver on your Twitter profile, "Re-tweets are not an endorsement", has no effect in respect of Defamation law. If you choose to ignore this you do so at your peril.

Julian Saunders

THIS IS NOT A PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION

Dear Mr Cooper,

I need to correct my last mail as you foolishly HAVE retweeted blogs from Hipkiss.

Julian Saunders

THIS IS NOT A PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION.

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

email   thesandwellskidder@gmail.com           facebook  Julian Saunders

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