The Last Days of The Skidder

Dear readers will have noticed that The Skidder has been rather quiet for the last few months. This was largely due to personal circumstances together with (a) the fact that no matter what evidence of Labour cronyism, corruption and incompetence The Skidder exposes, the vast majority of the morons who live in the sh*thole Borough want more of the same, and (b) despite the efforts of myself and others over many years to hold Labour to account, the elected opposition in the form of the hapless Tory opposition MP's and Councillors have been absolutely pathetic. Happily, the Tories have been severely culled at all levels in Sadders. But the half-century of Labour failure continues with the Dictatorship stronger than ever and, quite simply, this is exactly what the residents of the benighted Borough deserve.

Subject to the caveats set out below, The Skidder will be winding down over the next few weeks. There are still some big stories in the offing and so stay tuned for now. There are at least two Tribunal cases coming up. And "retirement" will never be total since there are certain bent individuals who will remain "on the watch list" whilst I draw breath.

I will also be writing up the definitive "History of The Skidder" as a matter of public record so that future Sandwell generations will see the contempt their ancestors had for their future. Watch this space.

Recent news

This has been unremittingly bad from the national Rachel Theeves tax bombshell Budget to local Labour disasters as shown by the following small selection of recent horrors:

Even the pro-Labour clickbait recycling works, The Birmingham Mail, recently said:

"Sandwell is one of the most deprived areas in the country and regularly comes near the bottom of rankings when it comes to health, lifestyle, poverty and school performance."

This was written in a piece explaining that Sandwell had appeared in the top ten areas nationally where kids perform the worst in English and Maths GCSE's. But then Sandwell parents don't care and so why should we be surprised?

And Sandwell's appalling reputation nationally was reported again in the Mail when dismal West Bromwich - described in a survey report as "the Black Country's crime capital" - was also in the "top ten worst places to live in the UK". Besides the awful crime rate the toilet that is West Brom scored particularly low in terms of culture - which is hardly surprising given Labour's decade-long attempt to destroy culture across the Borough, except for a few brown-tongue organisations like Multistory. It also scored badly in respect of parks and green spaces - the latter being systematically concreted-over by bent Labour across Sadders.

And Labour's hapless administration was slammed by the Regulator of Social Housing for failing to meet health and safety standards and poor record keeping. How is this even possible given the bloated Council workforce although, of course, the majority are now "working" - or "shirking" - from home? Despite huge year-on-year increases of council rents under bent Sandwell Labour the Regulator's inspection revealed a colossal backlog of 14,000 repairs. Shokat Lal (the Chief Executive) could only produce accurate records for 5% (yes that IS five per cent) of homes. Asbestos surveys and re-inspections had only been carried out on  a tiny 2% of homes.

The irony of this is that bent Labour has been waging war on supposedly "rogue" private landlords yet Labour as landlords has "serious failings" according to the Regulator and "significant improvements" are needed. Once again you have to question the mentality of Sandwell Council residents who keep paying more and more rent for this substandard service, but then keep supporting Labour. Serves them right, really.

Incidentally, on the subject of landlords, a***-licker extraordinaire Gurinder Josan MP is one of the largest private landlords in Parliament. In addition to his other business interests he and his family own eight rental properties in and around the cesspool that is Smethwick. Right on, Comrade!

The UK needs more immigration rather than less, but Sandwell Labour is (now) vociferous in support of irregular immigrants (as the UK Government describes them) arriving on our beaches. (Compare and contrast the position when the vile wifebeater, Darren Cooper, was the Council's Labour "Leader" and he and the Labour Group refused to house folks fleeing civil war in Syria). Sandwell Labour backs the independent local Borough of Sanctuary campaign in its usual leftie, virtual-signalling, way. Meanwhile, besides letting council properties fester (as above) it has presided over a 345% increase in "temporary" - mainly bed and breakfast - accommodation for families in just three years. The bill to us taxpayers has risen from £400,000 in 2021 to £2.5m in the last financial year. You would have to be desperate to want to live in red Sadders, but then there are locals and new arrivals who are.

This blog has always pointed out the "good" news that inhabitants in the Sandwell sh*thole at least have a shorter life expectancy than their peers in most of the rest of the UK but, alas, yet another bent Labour stealth tax is coming with the New Year as funeral/cremation costs are hiked again - this time by a stonking 10%. These and other fees (weddings/planning etc) are going up despite Labour continually boasting of its financial acumen. In an incredible statement bent Labour blamed the public for not spending enough on its woeful services. It coyly and absurdly described this as an "under-recovery of income". It intends to fill the black hole by charging more for the, er, same services. Anyone else think there might be a flaw in this "plan"? 

And so the disasters stack one on top of another. But still, that's what people in Sadders are happy with.

Orifice Latest

Rumours abound that the Oracle Fusion computer upgrade is still problematic. In a recent post:

https://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com/2024/09/shokat-lal-on-davey-and-oracle-fusion.html

I explained that it was Birmingham Labour's contract with right-wing US software giant, Oracle, which had been a factor in driving that Council to the local government equivalent of bankruptcy. Sandwell Chief Exec, Shokat Lal, decided that the staff member in charge of this project did not need a suitable qualification and, indeed, that this was "not desirable". WTF?

It was claimed that Alice Davey (Skidders passim) was to head-up the project, but she has now left the Council altogether despite Lal re-employing her following the removal of her original post! WTF again? It seems the s.151 Finance Officer has been handed the poisoned chalice so that Lal can distance himself from any more disasters.

Farewell Alice.

Sources claim there have been big problems with paying suppliers and maintenance of staff annual leave records. There seems to be some problem with input of time sheets. Staff claim there has been little or no training on the new system. Let's just hope Lal is on top of this, and that the project is not eating money Brum-style. (Anymore info welcome on this.)

(Unless I have missed something the small rump of Tory Councillors are completely silent on the Oracle shambles so far, and so we can assume that they are entirely happy with the way the contract is running - or like much else Labour does, don't actually give a fxxx!))

Akpoteni - The Silence of the Sheep

Last March (13th & 22nd) I wrote in two posts how (then) Labour Councillor (and, incredibly, would-be Parliamentary candidate) Kacey Akpoteni ran a care [sic] Company which was investigated by the police (although no action was taken) and by care regulators in both England and Wales. The Regulators raised serious concerns and Akpoteni's Company was required to improve. Of course, bent Sandwell Labour had given their pal Akpoteni part of a valuable domiciliary care contract, and let her Company loose on vulnerable Sandwell people.

I put in a detailed Freedom of Information (FOI) Request and if you can't sleep at night you can view it, and the wholly inadequate replies from SMBC, here:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/domiciliary_care_contract_cllr_a#incoming-2800968

Suffice to say that bent Labour itself terminated Akpoteni's contract AND kicked her out of the Labour Group. I asked about the original contract and what Lal and Co. did once they became aware of the damning reports from the Regulators. Even though all this raised serious safeguarding issues, Lal has refused to respond in any meaningful way. 

Normally, I would take this matter to the Information Commissioner but as the Cllr for Hateful Heath has gone, and her Company no longer has the contract, I am not going to waste time on this for several more months. The record (via the link above) shows that Sandwell Labour clearly has a cavalier attitude when (a) doling out contracts to its cronies, and (b) in respect of safeguarding issues - despite all its bulls*t to the contrary.

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