Lewis "slapped on wrist"; Stevens pay-off, Funeral details and more!

More shocking statistics to open this post showing just how sh*t Sandwell is after 49 years of Labour's total control. The new Sandwell Skidder Scum Counter is coming very shortly but, once again, the numbers will show that the adult voting population don't give a flying f*ck about the Borough's kids and continue to condone nearly half a century of local Labour corruption and failure. New statistics have now been published by The End Child Poverty Coalition (which, importantly, include housing costs) and which show that in bent Labour Sadders 44.6% of children are living in poverty. Nearly half - in a "socialust" paradise!

Meanwhile, Labour Councillors have enriched themselves, blown multi-millions on the Commonwealth Games, lost £22m on Providence Place etc. etc. Whilst there has been staggering financial impropriety and incompetence - not least in Children's Services where things were so bad the Government had to remove this department from bent Labour control - local kids have been shafted (unfortunately, sometimes literally).

Turn up at Oldbury Council House at the full Council just before Easter next year and you will see the grotesque Labour Councillors ostentatiously waddling in clutching bags of (sugar-laden) Easter Eggs for "them poor little kiddies" whilst weeping their crocodile tears. Still if local parents don't care about their own offspring why should councillors?

Next year Labour will have visited disaster on Sandwell for 50 years. Will they manage to get child poverty up to 50% to match their other "achievements"? Watch this space ...

Barry Cotgrave

I mentioned the other day the sad news of Barry's death. He was a great friend of this blog and an all-round good guy. Barry's funeral is at 10.15am on Thursday 15th June at The Methodist Centre Dudley Port, 41 Tividale Street, Tipton DY4 7SB.

No (Re)Morse from Lewis?

Labour’s Cllr Ash Lewis has been made to undergo “appropriate training” following his failure to declare an interest at a meeting of the incredibly-named "Safer Neighbourhoods and Active Communities Scrutiny Board" on 26th January, 2023  - under the appalling Chairing of the loquacious (to put it politely) Cllr Ellen Fenton. Despite being a Trustee at the time of the North Smethwick Development Trust (NSDT - which has received substantial funds from bent Labour over many years), he spoke up to object to any onerous financial reporting obligations being placed on such organisations as the one he represented - rather an odd thing to do when he was on a Committee purporting to scrutinise that such crony organisations were spending taxpayers’ money gifted to them by the comrades, er, appropriately.

Fenton let him get away with this, in between her crazed, partisan, soliloquies, but local Community Activist Darryl Magher was there and alerted The Skidder to the clear breach of ethical standards and the Councillors' Code of Conduct.

Following a formal Standards Complaint Sandwell’s highly controversial Monitoring Officer has found that Lewis should have properly declared his interest in NSDT, which was in receipt of funding “from the Council” - cunning code for “from the taxpayer”. However, as he made "no personal financial gain" from his misconduct he has simply had to undergo training in the hope that he won’t misbehave again. The usual slap on the wrist for errant Labour Councillors once again folks.

Surjit Tour (for it is he) claimed that: “Cllr Lewis upon being advised of his failure to declare an interest accepted his omission and apologised immediate[ly].” Well I don’t know who he has apologised to apart, allegedly, to Tour? And, in fact, this b*llockless Labour coward did not have the wotsits to respond to this email - hence why he ended up facing a formal Standards Complaint in the first place:

"THIS IS NOT A PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION - PRESS ENQUIRY

At the recent meeting of the above Committee (26/01/23) you pointed out that you are a Director of one of the organisations receiving taxpayers' funds as a "warm place". I assume you mean North Smethwick Development Trust?

You made your "declaration" of interest during the course of discussion on the Agenda item and not under "declarations of interests" earlier in the Agenda. Why did you omit to do this? Why did you seek to participate in the discussion of the Agenda item?

The activist and highly partisan Chair of the Meeting then allowed you to continue speaking on the issue where you had expressed an interest. Indeed you submitted your view that monitoring of the footfall at organisations receiving taxpayers' funds "should not be too onerous" and possibly should not apply at all this year. This appears to be a direct expression of a conflict of interest between your role on the Committee as a scrutineer of the spending of public money and the interests of an organisation you claim to represent. Can you provide any explanation of your conduct at the meeting for the benefit of Skidder readers please?"

They never learn do they, these planks? If you had the b*lls to come clean Lewis, and to apologise, you would have saved the taxpayer the costs of a standards investigation. Perhaps you will apologise to Skidder readers now?

ADDENDUM 9th June, 2023 - Tour has confirmed that Lewis only apologised to him for breaking the Code of Conduct. Tour says: "I [! -Ed] do not consider it necessary to require Cllr Lewis to apologise publicly." That does not, of course, prevent the spineless Lewis from saying sorry, but the eunuch has not seen fit to respond to my queries concerning an apology. Don't hold your breath folks!

Spellar - No Shame!

I have been pointing out for some time that ghastly South London spiv, John Spellar (who purports to be the MP for Warley), has been bigging-up the "gambling industry" in the House of Commons whilst enjoying its lavish hospitality at a series of A-grade sporting events. Many of you will have seen the very short video of this greaser at the annual Mayor-making ceremony where he seems to think this is funny. Watch it here and weep, if you haven't seen it!

Furious Piper!

On the subject of videos, regular readers will recall the recent video (courtesy of Sandwell Corruption) of Piper's hilarious incompetence at a recent Cabinet meeting. This vituperative scrote has been lashing out on social media (as per ...) at people who have mocked his dreadful performance and the footage has clearly got under his nanometre-thin skin. Do watch this farce if you haven't seen it - if only to annoy the joke "Deputy Leader" lol!

"Good News" - no mega-compensation for sacked Stevens. And Kafka lives!

Regular readers will know that on 8th July, 2021 I broke the rumour that Sandwell’s scumbag CEO, David Stevens, had been sacked on 5th July by (then) Labour “Leader” Rajbir “The Boy Blunder” Singh (who did a moonlight flit himself not long afterwards amidst lurid allegations). (Blog entitled: “Turd Excreted in Sandwell???”)

Following a protracted and convoluted Freedom of Information (FOI) Request the position is not a lot clearer although bent Sandwell has been forced to provide details of Steven’s pay-off.

Let me say straight away that normally the public is not entitled to know the pay-offs to council employees for “data protection” reasons. But in the case of senior employees - like the pathetic Stevens - councils have to provide the details by law in the annual accounts. Of course, Sandwell Labour has messed things up so badly that the annual accounts have been grossly delayed (an ongoing issue of great concern).

In the FOI process Sandwell initially lied (again) claiming that “the Council does not hold this information relating to the removal of the Chief Executive from post”. Whilst there may be arguments against disclosure it is inconceivable that a large organisation like Sandwell would not have any documents regarding the sacking of its (hapless) Chief Exec. But then Singh had f*cked everything up royal, and yet another Labour cover-up was under way.

When the FOIA was reviewed the bent Council changed from the lie that they held no documents to: “we neither confirm nor deny that we hold information falling within the description specified”. Astonishingly, the Information Commissioner (IC) has let them get away with this aspect of the matter by saying - in terms -  that if the corrupt paid service admitted they had documents relating to the sacking then the public at large might (rightly!) construe this as “evidence” that documents relating to the sacking exist! Never mind that they do, and that  they MIGHT be disclosable, the IC has - yet again - shown that the Freedom of Information regime is an absolute joke and wholly unfit for purpose.

We know that Stevens was physically turfed out of Oldbury Council House of 5th July, 2021 but his employment status remains uncertain for the next three weeks or so since his contract was not officially terminated until 31st July, 2021.

The good news is that the IC did force bent Labour Sandwell to cough-up the severance payment details to Stevens. Mysteriously, Sandwell contacts claimed that he had lawyers involved and received a substantial pay-off but that is wrong (fortunately for taxpayers) and he only received “contractual” compensation. There is a rather strange discrepancy between gross and net figures (although Stevens would have been a higher rate taxpayer) since these are the figures finally provided:

“Contractual payments totalling £45,652.76 (net) were paid made up of:

1 months’ Salary (gross £12,631.67) (net £6767.31)

12 weeks’ Pay in Lieu of notice (gross £37,895.00)

Annual/Accrued Leave 60 days (gross £34 980.00) (combined net £38,885.45)

(Total gross sum £85,506.67)”

Of course “Red” Yvonne Davies, another ill-starred former Labour “Leader”, rigged the appointment of this POS but at least his reign was relatively short, and it is better that Labour got rid of him for just £85k rather than, say, paying that sum to alleviate child poverty etc.

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PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

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