Friday 26 August 2016

Skidder Shorts #27 - BBC Midlands Today

Thanks to a correspondent who has solved another little mystery......

Like most of the local media organisations - the excellent Halesowen News/Adam Smith excepted - the BBC have been very reluctant to report the corruption, incompetence and cronyism at Labour Sandwell Council during the Cooper/Britton regime. People like Patrick Burns didn't want to know the truth about Cooper and closed his ears. The Smethwick Scumbag was also unlikely to get much of a grilling from the likes of ex-Express and Star Cooper fans like "journalists" Alex Homer and groveller Dan Wainwright.

Cooper arse-licker Adrian Goldberg was conflicted as, despite his blind-spot in respect of dimwitted Darren, he seems to actually be a very good journalist. He has had the balls to do some Sandwell corruption stories although has generally steered clear of direct attacks on his old mate.

Some of these pusillanimous "professionals" probably knew what would happen if they crossed Cooper and with good reason as he very quickly unleashed his troll network on Adam Smith and the Halesowen News when Adam started to do his, er, job and report what was actually going on. And of course, Cooper and his troll associates, like Unite the Union's Brian Rickers, unmercifully trolled me and, when that didn't work, started on my wife.

Happily, the BBC seem to be growing a pair. A chap called Rob Major has come on the scene and seems to be a breath of fresh air (although the BBC are obsessively risk-averse when it comes to investigative work). And a journo called Kathryn Stanczyszyn has also come onto the "Sadwell" scene. Yesterday and today this pair picked up the story first mentioned by local news service Ian Crow Multimedia on 15th August about Sport Wednesbury being barred from running sports activities in a Wednesbury Park:


(See blogposts passim about the Wednesbury Celebrates/Sport Wednesbury scandal involving Wednesbury and other local Labour councillors).

The latest aspect of this scandal was reported by them on the local BBC News website, on BBC Radio WM and via social media:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-37188362

We can only hope that the BBC will finally do what us licence-payers pay it for but there will, no doubt, be some way to go yet with the Corporation's greatest Cooper c*ck-sukers - Midlands Today - who seldom missed the opportunity to promote the woman-bullying thug.

Back to the mystery - last year and without any comment or warning Midlands Today suddenly blocked my Twitter account. I duly wrote to them about this on 13th October, 2015 and received a reply from their "Social Media Editor", one John Bray.

Bray responded claiming that he had no idea why my account had been suspended and that he would reinstate it - which he actually did. But perhaps the following tweet which has now been sent to me explains it all.....


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Labour's Legal Costs Shocker!

Hold on to your hats, pants and socks because they will be blown off with this one!

The new regime under Steve Eling is now having to cope with the fallout from the disastrous Cooper/Britton regime and costs are being cut and cash scrimped from all quarters. Even the pathetically cowardly staff who were too afraid to speak out about Cooper, Hussain. Britton, Dudley, Sharma, Bubalo and others are whining about having to pay for car parking. But if you are a top lawyer, there is no restraint and the unpopular "Assistant Chief Executive" Melanie Dudley will spend, spend spend.....

(Dudley herself claims she went over Britton's head and arranged a huge payoff for herself next year DIRECT with Dickhead Dazza before he died. Cooper thought he was above the law and could walk on water - though he was seemingly unable to repeat the Messiah's "resurrection" on Easter Sunday - even though - if such a deal was made - he had no legal authority to make it. I have written to the Department for Communities and Local Government (and my MP) asking what they are going to do to block this alleged deal but still await a response. I am also waiting to hear what Cllr Eling is doing to block it and will keep you posted).

Despite a very long outstanding Freedom of Information request as to, inter alia, the costs of the infamous "Wragge Report" narrowly commissioned in respect, mostly, of various land sales involving the Hussain clan there has been no response from Jan Britton's useless administration. (I am chasing that today). It is said that the original draft report from Wragge's was received by the conning comrades in or around August, 2015.

In tandem with the horrendous costs of this report, Labour Sandwell started to seek legal advice, Not for them some experienced junior counsel but off they went right to the top - straight to the excellent and highly-rated James Goudie QC. It seems they also instructed him when Mahboob Hussain and proven liar Cllr [sic] Ian Jones starting bellyaching about its release.

We know the useless Head of Legal, Neeraj Sharma, has been booted out but we might have suspected that, as a long-standing solicitor (even if of dubious talent), she might be involved in this process but Sandwell's payments over £500 list shows the payments coming under the jurisdiction of non-lawyer Dudley.

(As an ex-lawyer I am very familiar with dealing with Barristers' Clerks and how they will skin you alive for fees if you don't know what you are doing).

Now a caveat here. We don't know - yet - what the top QC, Mr James Goudie has done recently for the cunning comrades and the payments over £500 list doesn't say. Accordingly I am calling on new Leader Steve Eling to clarify the position forthwith in the shocking light of what follows below and also to confirm that no other fees in respect of the Wragge/Hussain/Jones debacle have been incurred eg with the QC or in respect of the appointment of junior counsel as well.

Please note the following figures almost certainly include VAT which should be discounted for present purposes and I have shown that.

I am showing screenshots of the actual payments since one is so fantastic it is either an error - in which case useless Jan Britton needs to pull his finger out and get some cash back or else the comrades have, yet again, taken leave of what senses they have.

We can say that Goudie did a couple of small jobs for "Sadwell" in late 2014/early 2015 including in March, 2015 shortly before Wragges were also commissioned (without the contract going out to tender).The next entry is this:


This is just £600 (£500 fee plus VAT) in August,2015 which may or may not be connected with the Wragge Report but we need clarity on this.

We do know that. even though in my opinion, the Wragge Report is rubbish (eg it doesn't, just by way of one example alone, deal with the highly irregular land deals surrounding Cllr Mohammad Rouf) it was not what the late Smethwick Scumbag and Hussain were expecting and the excrement started to hit the fan. 

In March, 2016 Melanie Dudley's Department [sic] approved a further payment to the Silk of £2,500 (£2083.33) and this must surely be related to the Wragge Report?



Another bill came in from Goudie QC in April, 2016 for £1,050 (£875 plus VAT). Again this was the "right" period to be connected with the incredible sums already being paid to Wragges. Mel got the taxpayers' checkbook out again:



WAIT FOR IT, WAIT FOR IT......

And so we come to June, 2016 when Mel handed over, er, £67,500 (a cool £56,250 to our London clever clogs ex VAT)!!!!!! Yes, I couldn't believe it either but here it is in black and white:


Now if this is not a mistake and this figure has been substantially inflated by legal challenges from Hussain and the Liar Jones we need to know what steps Britton and Dudley are taking to recover some of these legal costs from them! Come on Steve Eling - you publicly said outside a full Council meeting that the pathetic Britton had been told "doing nothing is no longer an option" so what are these very highly-paid members of staff doing to protect the public purse?

If the fees involve other work then tell us what Goudie did score from one of the poorest, most deprived and most unpleasant areas in the land?

But hang on - there IS MORE! Goudie picked up another £4.650 (£3.875 plus vat) in July, 2016 which is still in the right timeframe to be part of the Wragge fiasco:


(Incidentally, this shot also shows over £1,500 for caterers for some civic knees-up......).

A lot of this is down to the megalomaniac dimwit who ran [sic] the Council since he was desperate to clear Hussain's name and would have insisted on a top QC rather than a cheaper option. Britton, Dudley and Sharma were very highly-paid to arse-lick him. How on earth did they agree to this in the first place Steve Eling? And so the "socialist" shower have forked out £63.583.33 ex VAT to Goudie in the last year (there may even more payments to come....) and possibly ALL in respect of the Wragge Report. This is, quite frankly, incredible.

Corruption under the Cooper/Britton regime is still costing Sandwell folk and the taxpayer very dear.....

INFO PLEASE

I am very anxious for further info on the allegation that a very senior male SMBC employee is shagging a 42 year-old female West Midlands Police Inspector. Usual contact details below......

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PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER.







Wednesday 17 August 2016

Hussain Property Valuation Mystery!

Loony Labour Sandwell Council have spent a small fortune - still to be confirmed but subject to a Freedom of Information Request - on the pathetic "Wragge Report" into a few selected land sales by the corrupt Borough.. The commissioning on the report gave the "Cowards in Blue" - West Midlands Police - the excuse to drop investigations into their friend Mahboob Hussain (who is said to provide certain "services" to them) and, of course, Wragge's, a firm of solicitors, have no real investigative powers to flush out information.

Further, Wragge's were unable to speak to certain key witnesses and persons of interest, notably Hussain's son Azeem Hafeez, and deliberately and/or negligently chose not to speak to others eg myself.

The report is, in my view, shambolically written on the basis of limited work. Thus the alleged principal "author" Mark Greenburgh made the ludicrous sweeping statement that "no evidence" had been found of Hussain's involvement in the sale - at a gross undervalue - of the Lodge Street building plot to his own son, a Council employee. I submit that he didn't look properly.....

Payday for the Hussain Family approaches - will any coppers get a cut?
Leaving aside, for the time being, the fact that NOTHING happened in SMBC without the knowledge of Hussain and the late woman-bullying thug who "lead" the Council, Darren Cooper,an interesting story has come to light.

It is said that when Hussain was kicked out of the Oldbury Kremlin a Labour Councillor cleared his desk and, lo and behold, found a hitherto not publicly known valuation of the Lodge Street property!
The Councillor is alleged to have done the right thing and handed it to the Cowards in Blue but it is not clear if a copy was given to Wragge's. The richly-remunerated solicitors claimed that they had a "concordat" (FFS!) with WMP to share information but I cannot trace any mention of this alleged valuation in their report.

Hussain is, of course, Sandwell's most high-profile amnesiac and will, no doubt, deny any knowledge of the document. The question is, where is it now? Presumably the Cowards in Blue have a copy which should be sent to Wragge's immediately. The circumstances of how the report came into existence need evaluation - was it paid for by SMBC? I am doing a Freedom of Information Act request on that too. If yes, how did a copy apparently (and allegedly) find its way into Hussain's desk drawer?

Some of this could be answered by the Comrade who allegedly found the document and who is said to have sensibly retained a copy. I wrote to that person of 1st August but, alas, have received no response. It seems that not everyone in the new Labour regime is anxious to clear out the sh*t from the Cooper/Britton era......


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PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

Friday 12 August 2016

Arts in Sandwell - A Chink of Light?

Thick scumbag Darren Cooper hated "the arts" and was only too happy to work with Mahboob Hussain to destroy The Public. But when there was an outcry about closure the vicious thug went into his usual playground tit-for-tat mode and was happy to cut the arts in general whilst maintaining obscene levels of expenditure on what he did like, sport. Don't take my word for it - take a look at the Labour Council's "payments over £500 lists" for the last three years!

Congratulations are due to the small number of people left in the wilderness, like Black Country Touring, who have bravely struggled on trying to bring an arts offering to the benighted Borough.

But there appears to be a - so far tiny - turning of the tide. Word reaches be that despite financially-challenging times, the new regime at The Kremlin is going to allocate SOME funding to the arts.

Hitherto, the control freakery of the Cooper/Britton regime meant that such little money as was spent was kept under the dead hand of "socialist" control and with the likes of Garry Morris (son of former trade unionist Lord [sic] Morris) involved very little was ever likely to be achieved anyway (and so it came to pass).

The Council famously ripped off the Arts Council to promote a private statue project and, under Morris and Co, the Sandwell "Arts Festival" turned into a laughing stock. Morris was also connected with the so-called arts cafe in the ruins of The Public and anyone who has ever walked past will know what a total disaster that has been.

Of course, part of the bent deal to close The Public involved the College being given our money to provide some sort of arts offering but as we saw in my post:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/college-shafts-sandwell-arts-official.html

the College has deliberately screwed over the people of "Sadwell" in this regard. It should be remembered that, as part of Cooper and Hussain's bent deal, Sandwell's gormless "Chief Executive", Jan Britton, was also placed on the Board of Sandwell College so that you would imagine that, useless though he is, even he was fully aware that the College were, once again, f*cking local folk right up the arse?



And so what of the future - I am writing to Government ministers about the conduct of the College but, in the meantime, there are small green shoots emerging from the dog-sh*t ridden soil of Sadders.

As above, sources within the new regime tell me that SOME money is to be made available to the arts. Not a lot - but it is a step in the right direction. There was also good news recently with a couple of local arts organisations, including Black Country Touring, getting some extra development funding from the Arts Council (the Arts Council have been p*ssed on big-style under the Cooper/Britton regime and are very sensibly giving money direct to organisations rather than through the failing Labour Council).

There is a relatively new organisation called Creative Black Country up and running and, happily, this year's Arts Festival has been "outsourced" to them and, blimey, what a difference! The event is on this weekend and I urge you to check out the exciting programme via:

http://www.creativeblackcountry.co.uk/whats-on/events-listing/

There are even events on at the ruined Public!!!!

One hazards to say this in the UK but the weather is set fair for the weekend and so come on down and join in! You can even meet The Skidder who will be volunteering on a small show called Phonebox both days. Come and say hello (especially if you have any juicy gossip of the comrades!) - if you don't know me, or never saw the photos tosspot Cooper put up on social media to harass me, I am a fat, ugly man as pictured:



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PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

Thursday 11 August 2016

Richard Marshall True to His Word....

I am indebted to the new Cabinet Member for Leisure, Richard Marshall, for replying in detail concerning the Sandwell Great Train Robbery.

For the background to this story please see:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/sandwell-fcked-over-by-hortons-again.html



Firstly here are the details of the expenses for the loco, "Roger's Folly":

In or around 1988 SMBC purchased from British Rail a diesel locomotive engine now known as “D5410” and/or “The Sandwell Locomotive”.


Please state:


1   The original purchase cost;

Answer: 27059 was purchased at a cost of £20,000 which included asbestos removal charges.


2   The total costs for storage of the engine from the date of purchase to the present date;

Answer: From 1997 the locomotive was stabled at the Severn Valley Railway at no direct charge to the Council. SVR was provided with an industrial unit in Sandwell in lieu of a stabling charge.


3   The total costs of transporting the engine between various locations from the date of purchase to the present date:

Answer:

2015 - mainline running certification - £600.00;

2015 - From SVR to Barrow Hill depot in Leicester - £2,950.00;

2016 - From Barrow Hill to Cranmore, Somerset - £1,250.00.

I am unaware of any transport costs previously charged to the Council. The locomotive was moved to the SVR in 1992.


4   The total monies spent on removing asbestos from the engine and all other refurbishment costs to date;

Answer:

27059 was purchased following removal of all asbestos by British Rail.

Repainting of locomotive in 1961 livery in 1989 at a cost of £6,950.00;

Parts and ultrasonic testing in 1989 - £2,250.00.

From 1992 to 1997 a sum of £3,100.00 was paid annually to the Diesel Traction Group at Severn Valley Railway for maintenance and stabling.

In 2015-16 the following costs were incurred:

Axle and bearing testing - £409.45


5   All other costs and expenses, legal costs and other ancillary costs of whatsoever nature from the date of purchase to the present date;

Answer:

Legal costs approx. £500.00 for preparation of leases and agreements.


6   State the current location of the engine;

Answer:

Cranmore, Somerset.


7   If SMBC has entered into a current contract for the restoration of the engine state the total contractual consideration and the contractual date for completion;

Answer:

N/A

8   If known, where is it planned that the refurbished engine will reside and at what ongoing cost?

Answer:

N/A

Cllr Marshall also supplied me with a report from November, 2014 from the curiously-named Nemesis Rail (who were unable to gain access to the underside of the locomotive for the inspection). The general mechanical condition of the loco engine etc was not too bad but the exterior condition was poor with severe corrosion to large parts of the skin and cabs. You might find this surprising as the comrades had paid nearly £7k to have it repainted for Rog Horton but then they let the "valuable heritage asset" rot outdoors for the last 10 years!!!!

Having let the deteriorate your "socialist" council now face the problem of what to do with it. Nemesis said this in late 2014:



Strangely, there is no mention in the above figures for the cost of Nemesis Rail's report?

Cllr Marshall says that the loco was built in Smethwick and is quite a rare thing (it seems there are only six to eight still in existence) though how many people/organisations want to own this particular model for posterity is a moot point.

You will note there has been some serious expenditure on this thing (including a swapsy with an industrial unit) but it appears that the plan is to lease it to a heritage railway. I assume that it would have to be a pretty long lease if such an organisation was going to have to bear the costs of restoration. Cllr Marshall says no decision has been made yet but that it is hoped that the lease option should entail "Sadwell" retaining ownership but not having to divvy up to repair it.

I am sure Skidder readers are grateful to Richard Marshall for the information he has supplied even if we still don't know what the outcome will be. What a refreshing change from the lunacy of the Cooper/Britton regime! Hopefully the Councillor will keep us all informed as things develop. But the fact remains that at the present time the position is uncertain and us taxpayers are still on the hook for an expensive crock of sh*t!

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Monday 8 August 2016

Sandwell F*cked-Over By The Hortons Again!

How I ever missed this story I shall never know but, once again, I am indebted to local residents for their input into this community newsletter.

We know from the Lying Lucy Cashmore affair that the Horton family are not averse to f*cking over the people of "Sadwell" and Cashers took four years-worth of councillor allowances off struggling local folk when she was, in fact, an ineligible candidate. Parent Councillors Rog and Linda kept a stony silence throughout the affair but fag-hag Linda was quite prepared during this period to also rub the noses of local folk in the sh*t by accepting, and tarnishing, the office of Mayor of Sandwell. Regular readers will know that the Liar claimed she was living with Rog and Linda so as to be eligible for election when, in fact, she was living in South Birmingham with husband Dave who also happens to be employed by, er. Labour SMBC. The late scumbag "leader", Darren Cooper, was a very close personal friend of the family and well aware of where Cashers was really living as were most Labour Councillors and local members but everyone stayed schtum so that Lucy could get over £40,000 from us taxpayers whilst also working. She lied about that too, of course, and one of the companies she worked for whilst a Councillor happily received contracts from, yes - you guessed it, Labour SMBC. Happily, potentially criminal activity by Sandwell Labour is never investigated either properly or at all as the comrades enjoy protection from West Midlands Police. In this particular case the local Cowards in Blue had to do something as there was a very early complaint about the Liar's breach of the electoral rules and so they - wait for it - made a pre-arranged appointment to attend Rog and Linda's house to meet Lying Lucy and, surprise surprise, she just happened to be "living" there when plod arrived!

(Lest we forget, Linda further p*ssed on Sadwell people by very publicly arming Mahboob Hussain into the recent Mayor-making Council meeting).

Of course, Sandwell Labour also, and inexplicably, have the Wolverhampton c*ck-suckers, aka The Express and Star churning out propaganda which would make Goebbels blush on their behalf and that pathetic rag castigated me for disclosing the truth about Cashmore whilst forgetting to mention that she was then employed by, er, an Express and Star Group company!

The "Turdmeister" prepares for an evening at Linda's before his demise.....
Of course, since the corrupt and incompetent Cooper/Britton era came to a sudden end reality is beginning to kick in even with the daft Sadwell "socialists" and the new regime is having to get to grips with swingeing cuts. Vital Youth Services were axed a while ago. Frontline adult services are under attack. Children's Services is in disarray and unacceptable. Last week the comrades cut all subsidy to the outward-bound centres. Even the outlandish and astronomic spending on sport is said to be under review. But for those like me who didn't know, we can at least all celebrate the fact that us taxpayers own a f*cking train - or, more accurately, a diesel locomotive!!!

Just when you cannot think these socialist w*nkers could not top the 40 years of disastrously wasteful spending of our money to no effect (Sadwell remains at or near the bottom of virtually every league table going) we now discover the Rog Horton is a massive railways buff and (presumably long before he became a councillor) persuaded the Council to buy an asbestos-riddled old diesel locomotive with our money! This apparently simply on the basis that it was built in Smethwick. Heaven knows how much has been spent on storing the thing and it seems that significant money has been spent on removing the blue asbestos therefrom.

Mind you there is a funny side [sic]. At one point the thing was kept at the Tyseley Museum in Brum and one Sunday Rog allegedly turned up demanding that they hand over "his" engine there and then! The Museum had to politely explain to Rog that it was not actually possible to just drive a locomotive off from the sidings!!!!

So masturbate over this you happy Sandwell folk:


There, you feel better already don't you?

I am all in favour of heritage railways (I make occasional donations to one) and the great work the volunteers do but what the hell is a cash-strapped Black Country sh*thole like Sadwell doing getting involved in all this?

If you look at the SMBC website you will find virtually no reference to any of this. The ex-Smethwick bully-boy deliberately tried to destroy arts and culture in the benighted Borough but the costs of this sick joke are being borne under what is left of the "cultural services" remit and Frank Caldwell, one of the architects of the destruction of The Public, is involved. The comrades have periodically begged for volunteers to refurb the thing but even this involves significant costs at a time when Labour are shafting the poor, sick and deprived in the Borough. Careless and incompetent Sandwell Council have also left the thing to rot for a decade - presumably increasing the costs of doing it up. They seem to have been approaching various restoration groups and no less a personage that Sandwell's most famous amnesiac, Cllr Mahboob Hussain, stated in late 2014 that two "local" groups had been approached to undertake the refurb. One was the Diesel Traction Group. I am guessing the other was the following company and here is an interesting Facebook exchange from March, 2015 pointing out, as is frequently the case, how shoddily Sadwell Labour have acted:


Some comment followed which is interesting and confirms the incompetent way Jan Britton's paid service operates:


We know the engine has been variously stored at Leicester, Kidderminster and Tyseley at least and it is not known how the thing is moved about and at what cost. You do see some of these things being shifted on low-loaders and that cannot be cheap. It seems that they might have found someone to refurbish this as it has, apparently, now been moved at yet more cost to "Cranmore". Before locals stampede to see their cherished possession, Cranmore is in East Somerset......

Why the sudden rush by Cooper in 2014 - 16 to get this job done after years of neglect and at a time when he was cutting everything else (except sport) and sacking large numbers of employees? Another favour for his grovelling mate Rog?

This shaming degringolade does gives us an opportunity to see whether there really has been any material change under Steve Eling's new regime following on from the disastrous Cooper/Britton years. The woman-bullying thug who used to run [sic] the show blocked most information about SMBC's sleazy doings and then complained about the number of Freedom of Information Requests received. Below the subscription to this post is a draft FOI request about all this which I will hold for seven days. I am sending a copy of this post to the new Cabinet Member for Leisure, Richard Marshall, and inviting him to voluntarily supply the information (a clear matter of public interest). Let's see shall we readers.....

The vicious Cooper was hilariously trying to flog the hideous "Three Degrees" private, Jim Cadman, statue as a "tourist attraction" and he did the same with this - "Roger's Folly". We always thought he was "loco" - now we know he really was!

ADDENDUM - 08/08/16

The times they are a changin....... In the spirit of openness the new regime in the form of Cllr Richard Marshall has contacted me. It is felt that this is a legitimate matter of public interest and Cllr Marshall has asked for a full report which he will let me have in a couple of days. He believes the engine cost around £20,000 way back in the late eighties but is happy to try and confirm the full details later this week and without the necessity for a Freedom of Information request. I will reserve judgement but these are more encouraging signs of glasnost. Fingers crossed!!!!!

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PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER, DECEASED

Draft Freedom of Information Request:

In or around 1988 SMBC purchased from British Rail a diesel locomotive engine now known as “D5410” and/or “The Sandwell Locomotive”.


Please state:


1   The original purchase cost;


2   The total costs for storage of the engine from the date of purchase to the present date;


3   The total costs of transporting the engine between various locations from the date of purchase to the present date;


4   The total monies spent on removing asbestos from the engine and all other refurbishment costs to date;


5   All other costs and expenses, legal costs and other ancillary costs of whatsoever nature from the date of purchase to the present date;


6   State the current location of the engine;


7   If SMBC has entered into a current contract for the restoration of the engine state the total contractual consideration and the contractual date for completion;

8   If known, where is it planned that the refurbished engine will reside and at what ongoing cost?

Saturday 6 August 2016

Utterly Clew-less?

The three characteristics of the Cooper/Britton regime at Labour Sandwell Council were corruption, cronyism and incompetence. Time and again this blog has shown how the cancer of Sandwell Labour cronyism has spread, over 40 years, into almost every aspect of life in the sh*thole Borough with the former dickhead leader [sic] trying to exercise North Korean-style control over local folks.

Someone contacted me this week about The Change Consortium based in West Brom Town Hall (Council-owned, of course). They are a so-called incubator hub and I was informed that someone called Claire Clews purported to work for it. What immediately caught my interest was that Clews is said to be a close associate of our own Sandwell Labour Cllrs Hackett, Moore and the very strange Paul Sandars. And so I took a look.

The Change Consortium states that one of its primary aims is assisting business start-ups. In true "Sadwell-style" one former director was involved with no less than five dissolved companies. Of the remaining three, two were involved together with one dissolved company and the third with three others!

The company is very small and seemingly totally reliant on grant income of around 60k per annum. Yet they apparently feel the need to have, according to her Linked In profile, one Claire Clews as "Head of Communications and Marketing" from July 2011 to the present:



Who is Claire Clews? She is the Labour Councillor for the Rushall-Shelfield ward of Walsall Council (and its substitute member on the West Midlands Police and Crime Panel).

But hang on a minute! In her Register of Members Interests signed 9th June, 2014 she claimed to be unemployed:


And so Claire - is your position with TCC purely voluntary like Sadwell's Cllr Rouf at the Midnight Pharmacy? Please explain this discrepancy to Skidder readers......

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PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY BULLYING SCUMBAG DARREN COOPER DECEASED

Monday 1 August 2016

Bit of a Catch-Up + A Victory!

Regulars may be aware of my filming efforts via "Periscope" after the last Council meeting (including the classic when ex-Mayor Derek Rowley threatened to kick me "in the bollocks"). They are very difficult to transfer onto here but do try and have a look at VincentAlexandervich if you can access Periscope.....

Mahboob Hussain

Hilarious scenes, regrettably not caught on camera, as he arrived early and caught me on the hop. The great man came in alone and declined to answer my questions whether it is true - as many callers have told me - that his son, Azeem, has recently bought into three more local taxi firms: Platinum Cars, National & Tipton and County Cars (the latter has contracts with SMBC and the word is that the nominal ownership will remain opaque for the present time). Alas we must assume this is all untrue as Hussain would not comment.

I also asked the erstwhile "real" leader whether his son was still employed by the Council whilst pursuing his property development and other "businesses" to which he replied, "I don't know"! Looks like the old amnesia troubling him again, eh readers?

But the comedic element came in because Hussain had no security pass to get through to the Council chamber. Whether he had forgotten his or, let us hope, had it taken off him I cannot say but the former Capo dei Capi had to resort to going and ringing the bell to get "security" let him through!

"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

With special thanks to the corrupt officer or officers of West Midlands Police facilitating this project.

However.....the meeting started at 6pm but Hussain flounced out at 6.26 - an hour before the end of the meeting. Maybe not being able to get his way now with his uber-thick "comrades" is beginning to rankle.... And we all know what happened with Ozy!


Just in passing, there appears to be activity on another Hussain family project next door to Oldbury Social Club:


Absentees

Quite why Sadwell folk need 72 mostly low-calibre people to represent them (especially now there is an extra tier of government on top with the new West Midlands Combined Authority) is beyond me. I hazard to mention individuals in case illness is involved but it is noteworthy that there have been three full council meetings since the May elections and Cllrs Ann Jaron and Joyce Underhill have missed ALL THREE! (There are only 8 for the full year to 16/05/17. If they are not ill perhaps this pair can send refund cheques for their expenses to the Kremlin?)

Curiously, a Cabinet Member [sic] Paul Moore has missed two of the three but then he works for the serial shagger and poseur MP for West Brom and maybe he is constantly at Lazy Tom's beck and call.....? Not much of an example to the drones, however, if the leaders [sic] can't be arsed.....

Ahmed's missus - only elected in May - has missed her first Council meeting......

A challenge to "Socialist Landlord" - Cllr John Edwards:

Jedward took time off from counting his rent money to parade his socialist credentials at the full Council meeting "lol". The fanatical Corbynista and supporter of the Yew Tree's most notorious benefits claimant, Mr Sniffpiss, told me (and this is on Persicope) that I used this blog to "tell lies". So OK John - here is the challenge! If you can find a "lie" anywhere in this blog within 14 days of today's publication I will acknowledge that here and also buy you a couple of pints in the Sadwell venue of your choosing. The clock is ticking.......

No Sympathy For The Devils?

It is hard to cry into one's beer at the plight of Sadwell Council employees when most of the lily-livered cowards have known exactly what has been going on under the Cooper/Britton regime but have get their gobs firmly shut. I salute the brave few who have had the guts to speak out. Now many of them have been repaid for their silence with swingeing parking charges and are having a whine about it - especially as it seems Councillors will continue to enjoy free parking! Poor diddums...

By the way - the senior figure in housing nearing retirement who is said to be "bricking it" at what might come out soon, get some new pants - we are on the case!

ICESTINK - VICTORY AT LAST!

I don't often say this so screenshot this one, congratulations to Steve Eling, Paul Moore and the rest of the Cabinet for finally seeing sense and scrapping Cooper's bent ice rink deal. The Skidder has, unlike the Wolverhampton c*ck-suckers aka "the Express & Star", for example, campaigned for two years against this fraudulent fix. Steve Eling was in on the original disastrous Cabinet decision but has had the balls to change tack - admittedly in the face of a tsunami of reasons to ditch Dickhead Daz's crazed scheme. The ex-Smethwick scumbag started lying about this project right from the off as chronicled here. He was envious of those with money and maybe he hoped it would provide his "pension" in some way?  I urged the Council to contact other councils such as the Isle of Wight and Cardiff before committing to anything and I am also indebted to a large number of people in the ice skating world who took the trouble to contact me about "Planet Ice" and its owner and the seemingly less that satisfactory way some of their facilities are run.[Special thanks to one correspondent in particular]. Only this week, he has been courting controversy with his Basingstoke operation:

http://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/14637014.Concerns_raised_over_condition_of_ice_rink/

If only a big newspaper would check things out....

Anyway - Sandwell has had a lucky escape.......

Austerity

Sandwell Labour finally seem to be facing up to the real world. I don't know if it was true that Cooper was as fond of the weed as people say but at least his bizarre, fantastical view of the world is being replaced with harsh reality. Eling and Co are having to make some very unpalatable decisions - cutting subsidy to outward bound centres, potentially closing adult care homes etc etc. I do not envy them their incredibly difficult job after years of local Labour living high on the hog at our expense. They must continue to clamp down on the corruption, cronyism and incompetence of the Cooper/Britton era and cut out the vanity projects. It is difficult to say whether Eling will steady the ship at present or whether his apparent calm sense and ability is a flattering view compared against the gormlessness of his "comrades" and the inanity of his thick bully-boy predeccessor. If they can get a grip and clear out the failed management I wish them well in a Herculean task.

The "Sadim" Effect....

One of this blog's nicknames for dismal Daz was "Sadim" - a reverse of "Midas" since everything he touched turned to sh*t. One of his love affairs (and I am not talking about his "ladies" now) was with arch-capitalist firm Interserve Plc. For most of the period in question, Interserve was chaired by arch-Thatcherite Norman Blackwell but the class dunce never could spell "Thatcherite" on his vicious and abusive Twitter account! Interserve had Sandwell Labour's pants down good and proper with the later phase of the ruinously expensive "Building Schools for the Future" for which the ordinary folk of Sadders will be paying for many, many, years to come. Nevertheless, Cooper, Hussain and Britton then doled them out the multi-million pound bent contract to destroy The Public WITHOUT PUTTING IT OUT TO TENDER. But, like everyone else, Interserve should realise that dealing with these w*nkers is as toxic as swimming in the Rattlechain Lagoon and no-one escapes being sucked into Sadwell's own peculiar crock of (canine) shite. Thus Interserve's share price was at a year high of 648p but has catastrophically slumped to 291p today. Oh dear, oh dear.....




Register of Interests - More Hilarity!

Now that the useless and charmless Director of Governance "ROFLMAO" Neeraj Sharma has gone off to count our money from her generous pay-off, another of the failed management team, Melanie Dudley, is apparently now Monitoring Officer (a statutory role) until she also tries to cash-out at our expense. Anyhow, her appointment has led to a veritable flood of amended declarations by the dismal drones during July which you can access via the SMBC website. One particularly weird entry did catch my eye, however, from newbie Cllr Caroline White:



Again, ROFLMAO.....

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