Darren Cooper's Lying Circus!

Sandwell Labour (aka "The Goose-Killers") can always rely on The Express and Star for a blow job and those crusaders for truth and justice don't even bother to check small matters, like, er, the facts before happily "obliging".

This blog has produced evidence of repeated lies by Labour "Councillors" - the list is ever expanding but just by way of example there is The Liar Cashmore (lies about her employment and address); Poor Mohammad Rouf (lies about "unemployment"); Ian "it was all the staff's fault" Jones (lied to BBC's Adrian Goldberg on live radio about Bog-gate) and, of course, Sandwell's Senior Citizen and favourite amnesiac Mahboob "Keep it in the Family" Hussain (forgot to mention his and his wife's shareholding in Five Star Taxis when bidding for SMBC taxi-contracts etc etc).

I have also shown that Sandwell Councillors and employees are quite happy to lie in legal Council documents (eg. The Public, the Ice Rink Scandal) and in Freedom of Information replies (eg. Bog-gate).

Of course, the moronic "leader" - Disastrous Darren Cooper - a master of the dark political arts - is not averse to being "economical with the truth". He claimed, for instance, that there would be "an independent" investigation into matters concerning (still) "Deputy Leader" Hussain whereas, in fact, Sandwell's own auditors, KPMG, were appointed. He told us all that Sandwell's greedy comrades were taking a 10% reduction in their allowances whereas the figures - when belatedly released - actually showed a small increase (see my blog "Sandwell's Turdmeister Needs a Maths Lesson" - 03/11/14). Or what about his claim that ALL local welfare provision monies for 2013/2014 had been allocated to the poor whereas my Freedom of Information request showed that, in fact, only 57% had been distributed in "rich" Sandwell (see my blog " 'Socialist' Turdy Lies to the Poor" of 28/11/14).

(Mind you, Cooper can keep his trap shut when it suits him. He has repeatedly failed to repeat his comments to many people describing where he borrowed the money from for his house extension. He has refused to disclose details of the serious accident involving his car outside a Labour club. Spellar knows all about this too apparently. He has refused to disclose details about the crazed "celebration" statue "deal" including where the money actually is NOW and there is deathly silence concerning the departure of SMBC's chief financial officer, Stuart Kellas in the all-important period when the Council budgets are being set. Finally (for now), there is nothing being said about the multi-million pound Labour disaster that is 1 Providence Place in West Brom.)

But what is it about the sleazy socialists that makes them lie about legal costs being picked up by us taxpayers? Firstly, we had Cllr Steve "Mr Rotherham" Eling who told the Wolverhampton cock-suckers that the legal costs for the casino debacle were around £5,800 and that, in any event, these would be recoverable and, therefore, there would be no charge to the taxpayer. The Star duly gave this guff front-page billing without asking the obvious questions - which I duly did. It is not the norm in English law (excepting odd cases like misbehaviour by a party) for the LOSER to recover their costs and the comrades had cocked this particular episode up royal. As I later proved, the taxpayer had to shell out £21,500.38p excluding VAT for their incompetence whilst cutting jobs and front-line services!

Secondly, there was the CTB disaster - apparently all set in motion by the aforementioned Eling and unanimously approved by the "left-wing" comrades. For the uninitiated in this episode, the "socialists" hatched a plan which ended up losing Sandwell a government grant of £670,000 (yes, that is six hundred and seventy thousand pounds) and which was described by a High Court Judge following a judicial review (brought by the Child Poverty Action Group no less) as unlawful, discriminatory on the grounds of sex and race and a breach of the Equality Act! Three thousand six hundred of the poorest in our society were victimised by Sandwell Labour in this disgraceful episode.

The case was handled for SMBC by its own legal department. Despite the cunning comrades outsourcing shed-loads of work to locally-based firm (er, Exeter), Ashfords, the Law Society website still shows Sandwell as having no less than 25 solicitors - all paid for by the taxpayer. They (or their political masters) made the fateful decision to contest the judicial review - their star witness one Stuart Kellas - and were absolutely hammered on all 6 of the legal arguments. This was a case that had some significance nationally and it duly received wide media coverage. Except, of course, from the so-called political editor or any of the other staff of the LOCAL Express and Star (see my blog "Local Media Blackout on New Sandwell Council Scandal" of 05/08/14).

Three days after my blog The Star finally ran the story under the headline (and please hold this in your mind) "£40k bill for taxpayer after Sandwell Council lose legal battle over benefits" and sought quotes from none other than The Turdmeister himself!

May I digress very slightly here? The job of the Head of Legal, Neeraj Sharma, and her huge legal "team" (I use that word advisedly as I am told that morale within the department is at an all-time low) is to independently and impartially advise the Council as in an ordinary solicitor/client relationship. Of course that doesn't happen in Sandwell where Sharma and the Chief Executive, Jan Britton, have permitted Hussain and his sidekick, Cooper, "access all areas" and to interfere in the day-to-day running of all aspects of the Council's business. Clearly the legal defeat was so all-consuming in this particular case so that it is difficult to see how ANY qualified lawyer could have advised that an appeal should even be considered but, as we shall see, this was what Cooper said would happen. (EVEN The Star wrote that the High Court Judge "gave a stinging rebuke" to the authority for shafting 3,600 vulnerable and needy people!).

Yes, and so back to The Star article.... They stated - without mentioning at all the in-house legal costs incurred by SMBC's own legal department - that the case had cost the taxpayer £40,000 but that Cooper wanted to appeal at a cost of a further £50,000! Uber-thicko Cooper himself stated (or lied, whichever you prefer):

"This has cost us £40,000 to defend and an appeal could cost a further £50,000."

Needless to say, The Star did not question this bollocks (they could have phoned the CPAG but chose instead to just act as a propaganda sheet for Sandwell Labour) but noting that QC's and Junior Counsel were involved in this case I thought £40,000 seemed low and so I put in a Freedom of Information request on your behalf. Before dealing with the result, I should just say that there was no appeal since the lawyers finally managed to point out to Hussain and his sidekick that there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell of winning!

There are three categories of costs involved here:

1. Costs of SMBC's own legal department - we will never know this but a fair guestimate would be at least £20,000 excluding VAT of taxpayers' money;

2. The cost of SMBC's QC and Junior Counsel (paid in a hopeless case but authorised by whom at SMBC?) as per FOI response £25,675.00 excluding VAT;

3. The costs payable by SMBC as "loser" of the case to the "winner", the Child Poverty Action Group, er, £45,833.33 excluding VAT.

And so Cooper's "£40,000" was another porkie which the cock-suckers didn't bother to check. Labour cost the people of Sandwell the £670,000 grant and paid legal cost of - not £40k - but £71,508.33 excluding VAT PLUS their own in-house taxpayer-funded lawyers! In effect a figure in excess of £90k!

As we pass from one year to the next, Hussain remains the organ-grinder and The Turdmeister his (and Unite the Union's) gibbering monkey! I wish I could offer Sandwell folk and taxpayers everywhere a hearty "Happy New Year" but fear the runes are portending a very different outcome unless there are wholesale changes in local governance..... Of course, the inane Cooper is hoping to strut his stuff on the bigger stage of "Greater Birmingham" (sorry, I've got to go - I have just wet myself laughing......).

Thanks for staying with me this year folks. Please DO contact the police with any further evidence concerning SMBC and me with any "political" or other community stuff! I hope to continue The Skidder into the New Year and to shortly be able to offer a new series of "special features". Watch this space.... If you fancy doing a guest blog on matters Sandwell (which doesn't have to be political) my contact details are set out below. Happy New Year (with a small number of exclusions...).

Hotline for reporting suspected Sandwell Council fraud - 0121 251 2175 - Regional Fraud Team - DS Wayne Haynes.

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

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

Confidential phone number: 07599 983737

Skidder Shorts No. 23 - Imminent Troll Attack

There is already one troll account up and running to attack myself and my wife - it is morphing between two different names - @vernongrant16 and Kingsnortonlady.

Just in case Linda and I were under any illusion that we were not to be blitzed by the trolls over Christmas this threatening message was flashed on the above account yesterday:

A Clear Threat.

It is curious that the words "my boy" were used since this is what Councillor Darren Cooper, the joke "leader" of Labour Sandwell Council tweeted to me on 14th December:

"(to me) @WMPolice.................. Otherwise keep guessing my boy".

Another amazing coincidence!

Since writing this a new message from the troll has just gone up:

"The countdown begins. Ready boys".

 In the meantime, Cooper's Unite the Union "operator", Rickers, is claiming to be abroad. The GMB Union have also joined Unite in the harassment of me via a local employee.

The trolls have also set up at least 6 (six) other accounts ready to harass us ie @vernongrant; @vernongrant8; @vernongrant6; @vernongrant33; @vernongrant4 @vernongrant1. The Police are aware.

Direct number to Police fraud team investigating Sandwell Council - 0121 251 2175 - DS Wayne Haynes and team.

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

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

Confidential phone no: 07599 983737

Skidder Shorts No. 22 - Hilarity at Oldbury Wetherspoons!

Yesterday I was treading gingerly along what Sandwell Labour like to advertise as the faeces-smeared streets of Sandwell. No seasonal excursion to West Bromwich would be complete without a visit to The Wheatsheaf where I enjoyed excellent hospitality and company. At 3pm I progressed to Victoria Street to see the building where Sandwell Labour are really run from but noted that the Unite the Union Regional Office was already closed for business.

Lots of union dues needed to pay for this huge building!

Off I then flew to Stone Street in Oldbury where Hussain's son (& SMBC employee) is building his houses. I was aggressively challenged by one of the builders for trying to get a photo for you. Irrespective of the police investigation I wonder whether anyone has the legal power to set this deal from Cooper's Labour aside? No doubt the newly-emboldened Head of Legal, Neeraj Sharma, can advise! KPMG?

Cooper's Labour sold for £145k. Advertised sale price £2.7m

There followed a lovely meeting in a secret location with a great supporter of The Skidder blog and I sincerely hope I have made a new friend. Then I met another avid Skidder reader and was gratified to receive good wishes for the blog.

But what of Wetherspoons? My research complete for the day I ventured into the Oldbury outlet. My phone was virually dead and it was far too busy to plug it in. And so I simply stood enjoying a pint and the general festive atmosphere. I was tapped on the shoulder by the manageress and asked if I would step out the back and I readily complied. She told me that she had received a "complaint" that I was taking photos inside and putting them on Twitter. If I did not desist I would have to leave! I satisfied her that this was, in fact, untrue and she was happy to let me re-enter and, indeed, stay for a second beer.

I make no complaint whatsover about the staff member who explained later that she had to act on a complaint and, it has to be said, she dealt with the whole thing most professionally. New readers might be wondering what this is all about but the irony of this is that the leader [sic] of Sandwell's Labour Council Darren "The Turdmeister". Cooper had ME covertly photographed in the very same pub and then put my photo on his Twitter account that night! You may wish to read the letter I sent to Ed Mili-bland and Tim Martin (the boss of Wetherspoons) which is set out in my blog of 12th November, 2014, "Ed Miliband's As Weak as Piss!". I never received a response from either of them.

And so yet another dirty trick from Sandwell Labour fails spectacularly. There are now a whole series of Twitter accounts set up in variations of the "Vernon Grant" name and so I am going to be under sustained troll attack over the festive season (if Tweets look "odd" they probably are. The police are fully aware of the harassment). What other stunts will Cooper and the Comrades pull next? (Incidentally, I could not see Unite's local Regional Officer in the pub but Rickers is fond of making complaints about mythical photographers. Looks like someone has picked up where he left off).

ADDENDUM 20/12/14: The following tweets have been brought to my attention posted by one Sarah James of Wednesbury who is the Senior Rep/Equality Officer for the GMB trade union "Sandwell Community Branch" based at Smethwick Council House and who apparently campaigns against domestic violence (!):

19/12 "Lovely post-work drinks to celebrate the holidays (at Wetherspoons) Oldbury who needs to have alcohol to have fun, #Designated driver"

19/12 "Even if someone was trying to take pics of me and my colleagues, to be used for no good no doubt lol. Merry xmas ya filthy animal

Now look at the people Ms James then contacts to make sure they read the tweets:

19/12 "See my previous tweet @brianrickers1 lol"

19/12 "See my previous tweet @sandwellleader lol".

This is what the White Ribbon Campaign, which this woman purports to support, says as its "headline":

"Even when it isn't physical, abuse is abuse. Find out more about psychological abuse....."

"Lol" - as some might say!

Further addendum 20/12/14: Mrs James, as she wants to be called, has contacted me and the story seems to be changing. Although she supports the White Ribbon campaign it is apparently OK to try and have me thrown out of a pub and then to call me a "filthy animal" on Twitter. The latest version of events is that she didn't witness the non-existent photography herself but was "told about it by a stranger". This was apparently enough for her or one of her group to complain about me and to publicly abuse me whilst seeking the approbation of Cllr Cooper and Unite's Rickers. Very charitable indeed!

This is a picture from Cllr Cooper's Twitter feed:

Cooper always anxious to condemn domestic violence.

(Incidentally, take a look at what is behind Cooper's head - it is the maquette for the private statue that Labour have already splurged over £30,000 on. But it looks like only Cooper and his guests get to see it!)

Addendum 5th January, 2020: For the benefit of any doubt about the above incident, clever lawyers and the High Court of Justice I specifically say:

(a) that the incident in the pub was vicious bullying of me by Sarah James, a person I knew absolutely nothing about at the time of the incident (although she knew all about me);

(b) that the subsequent attack on me by Sarah James via social media - clearly and very publicly imputing that I am a pervert at the very least - was also an incident of vicious bullying.

These filthy lies were picked up and re-published by Sarah James's friend and colleague Paul Reeves (his account @paulsgardens1 was only followed by a handful of people including Darren Cooper and Sarah James) addressed to a troll account impersonating me and to my personal Twitter account. I am specifically NOT alleging at this point in time that Sarah James was involved in anyway in respect of the re-publication of her false allegations.

And finally, will this be that last Christmas for SMBC at The Kremlin? Council documents show that Labour were attempting to pay over £20m for 1 Providence Place in West Brom as their new HQ which will be the death sentence for Oldbury town. Labour have saddled taxpayers with huge lease payments for Providence Place following the collapse of THEIR own disastrous deal with BT. Cooper recently said in public at a full Council meeting that SMBC were NOT moving from Oldbury. Clearly SMBC can't afford two HQ's so what is going on? Cooper - you have been boasting about how things are going to be done openly and transparently from now on (a tacit recognition of Labour's past failings) so why don't you tell us the truth. What is happening with 1 Providence Place??????

Police fraud team direct line re Sandwell Council - 0121 251 2175 - DS Wayne Haynes.

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

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

Trolls Hit Halesowen News!

Last week, the paper edition of the Halesowen News (the only local paper not prepared to simply kowtow to the Sandwell Labour machine) ran a further story in respect of Cllr Mahboob Hussain but did not put it on their website. One or two of us asked why not via Twitter and this prompted a response yesterday from Unite the Union's Regional Officer, Brian Rickers:

"(to me) so u trust H News lol not put what u want online #shame"

Unfortunately for Rickers, the article then appeared online:

http://www.halesowennews.co.uk/news/11675836.Powerful_Oldbury_councillor_facing_new_allegations/

Remember that YOU can contact the regional Fraud Team investigating Sandwell Council direct on 0121 251 2175 - DS Wayne Haynes.

Later in the day a troll starting attacking Halesowen News via an account purporting to be in my wife's name (subsequently changed to a variation of my nom de plume). Immediately the tweets were commented on by, er, Brian Rickers and Cllr Darren Cooper, the joke "leader" of Sandwell Council.

Rickers copied in one Paul Reeves who appears to be another Unite person trying to claim the troll was my wife:

"(to Paul Reeves) Thanks Bro just followed (name of troll account) very interesting Linda doesn't like @halesowennews".

Of course the paper recognised immediately that this was a troll account but this obvious fact seems to have eluded (allegedly) the uber-thick Cooper who tweeted to his Unite operator, Rickers:

"Who this (ie the troll) then now Bri?"

Halesowen is a key marginal seat that Labour are desperate to win. The Labour candidate is Tom Watson's girlfriend which makes it all the more curious that Unite's Rickers should put a photo of the troll account that was attacking The News on Twitter and send it to Wealthy Watson:

"do you agree with trolling Tom Jules (ie me) won't ask properly".

Perhaps Tom or Steph will let us know why Unite are so keen to attack the local paper....?

The troll account has just two followers - Mr Paul Reeves (Unite?) and, of course, Brian Rickers (Unite Regional Officer). Curiously there is a strange connection to someone in the Labour Party but I am afraid that must wait for another day.....

There have been numerous (and I mean numerous) troll accounts now set up using variations of "Vernon Grant" and it seems likely that, with time on their hands, The Skidder and Mrs Skidder are going to face a sustained onslaught of abuse over the holiday period. But The Skidder says, "No Surrender" and remains unbowed!


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

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

Confidential phone no:  07599 983737

The Curse of The Pink Elephant - Victims 2 & 3!

The Pink 'Un on the Rampage!

Tis the Season for Schadenfreude!

Before I get to the main course may I tempt you with a small amuse bouche? Or two, in fact.

Sandwell College (and the Labour Council) have been singing the praises of their sixth form (even putting up misleading posters etc to gull academically-challenged kids into signing-up with them so that they can get extra grants) and often put their limited success down to the Director - Matt Lamb. That would be Worcester LABOUR councillor Matt Lamb, then. Those old Sandwell Labour tribal connections again.... As it is, there is the remote possibility that they will lose this paragon next May as he is standing for Parliament in Wyre Forest. It would take a minor miracle for him to get elected (the only possible scenario seemingly being UKIP taking a lot of the old Tory vote and Lamb creeping through "on the rails" in a three-way "split". Anyway, it does not necessarily augur well for the great new sixth-form centre that the Director wants away.....

Of course the scandal-ridden sixth form centre was opened in a blaze of expensive publicity (except that Sandwell Labour apparently didn't need to pay for the usual blow job from the Express and Star). Naturally, "The Turdmeister" went into overdrive on Twitter as did another account - Punch Records. I don't suppose they are in any way related, are they, to the "Punch Records DJ Workshops Limited" paid £2,000 (Two Thousand Pounds) by cash-strapped Sandwell Labour Council on 6th November????

And so to the meat. Sandwell Labour's "Chief Executive", £164,000 per annum Jan Britton has distinguished himself in the Borough for the way he has sacked truly massive numbers of Council workers for his Labour masters. As part of the bent Public deal, Sandwell College mysteriously started renting property at the taxpayers' expense from, er, Labour Party Properties Limited and were also forced to take the giant amoeba onto their Board of Governors so that Hussain and his sidekick, Cooper, could extend their power-base still further. It seems that he has now brought his job-cutting expertise to the College as four top [sic] people have recently "left" in mysterious circumstances!

I know I shouldn't gloat but I am going to anyway, particularly in the light of the vilification and threats The Skidder and team (and The Sandwell Scrutineers) have had to face in the last year. At least two of these four College superstars were instrumental in stitching-up the people of Sandwell and beyond in respect of The Public and, I am delighted to say, have now succumbed to the dreaded "curse".

Firstly, we have Ms Sheryl Dowen. This piece of work was the one who was summoned to The Court of King Mahboob on 15th August, 2012 and even though the greedy bastards at The College were only just moving into their brand-new taxpayer-funded Spon Lane Campus, was happy to implement Hussain's master-plan. The College minutes show that she very enthusiastically tried to force the deal through at every opportunity and, to cap it all, when The College had shafted the taxpayer and the people of Sandwell royal, this fuckwit formally proposed to the Board that the taxpayer should be ripped-off still further so that the College and Labour Council could enjoy a "celebratory dinner"! Fortunately, this spectacular two-fingers up at us all did not happen. It seems Sandwell College will be deprived of her "skills" and good judgement from now on. Shame (takes onion and dabs around eyes....)

Secondly, we have Mr Scott Upton who has also been trampled by The Pink 'Un. This character was put up by The College for the BBC pieces on 9th May, 2013 when Hussain announced to the world that he was going to destroy The Public and little Scotty was happy to stand in front of the cameras and back him 100% even though, as the minutes of the Board of Governors show, this was very far from being a done deal. My earlier blogs have shown that Hussain and his disciple, Darren, were so desperate to get what they wanted that they announced the "done" deal to the media before any official appraisals, reviews etc and having already decided to offer a multi-million pound contract to Interserve without putting it out to tender.

They then tried to bounce The College into the only deal in town and Scotty and his chums proceeded to enthusiastically take Labour to the cleaners. Not funny, unfortunately, as it is we, the people, who have to face the disastrous consequences. (Incidentally, note The Turdmeister's similar attempts to "bounce" neighbouring local authorities into the "Greater Birmingham" deal. Other local councils should note that Cooper did not earn his other sobriquet, "Sadim", for nothing.....)

Almost exactly a year ago, I was standing outside the shell of what was The Public. Instead of local people enjoying that excellent facility, which the taxpayer had paid for, there was just a brooding hulk. To force through their bent deal, vindictive Labour had ensured that it should be closed early so that folk couldn't enjoy the Christmas programme and the excellent dinners. Who should come along with a bunch of work colleagues on the way to their Xmas do at Nando's but Mr Upton. This grinning cock (!) was pointing at the building to his acolytes and waving his arms around in triumph at his own cleverness. Well in the spirit of the festive season this year I can now say, "Scotty - you can take your Peri-Peri Chicken Wings and shove then up your a***!"

Sandwell Council fraud investigation - phone police on 0121 251 2175 - DS Haynes.

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

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

Confidential phone no: 07599 983737

Skidder Shorts No. 21 - The Big Cover-Up Continues!

Take a look at this:

http://cmis.sandwell.gov.uk/cmis5/Meetings/tabid/73/ctl/ViewMeetingPublic/mid/410/Meeting/36093/Committee/6034/Default.aspx

It is now nearly the end of the working day on 17th December and Sandwell Labour have still not put anything on the website about the disaster on 3rd December. There are no minutes and not even confirmation of the make-up of the  firing squad that gunned-down two of the top officers. One wonders whether there are legal "issues" involved....

It has been known for some time that the High Command wanted rid of Deputy Chief Exec, John Garrett. As with many Sandwell policies, all decisions are made and then the hapless arse-lickers who are too frightened to stand-up to the likes of Hussain and Cooper churn out policy documents, reviews, appraisals etc which, happily, usually come to the conclusion favoured by the Politburo. Of course, The Public scandal is the "classic" recent example of this. On the rare occasions when these greasers show a little backbone - eg. over the bent ice rink deal - the Politburo simply ignore them and proceed regardless.

As ever, all dodgy decisions are dressed-up in reams of bullshit and large costs "savings" are forecast. In this case, it was said that there would be annual recurring costs savings of at least £130,000 per annum but only after unspecified "costs". As all involved were earning substantially over £100,000 and were long-serving there was always going to be a substantial redundancy payment to "someone". In the Cooper era, high-ranking departees have, we are told, been paid further totally unnecessary "additional" payments of taxpayers' money on the grounds that they will not whistleblow. They are forced to sign "confidentiality agreements". Labour SMBC are currently refusing to provide information under the Freedom of Information Act about these additional payments and I have now also put a new one in concerning this mess.

I stated in an earlier post that a highly-placed source within The Kremlin itself confirmed over two weeks before the "interviews" that Garrett was definitely a condemned man and so it transpired. But something went badly wrong with the plan and Stuart Kellas, the finance director, left as well. We have not been told whether he was made redundant, resigned or was sacked but he was very highly-paid and it seems highly likely that he too will receive huge sums from the taxpayer in respect of his departure. Thus the alleged costs "savings" are likely to be dissipated for sometime to come by dint of the TWO huge pay-offs. Of course, Hussain and his sidekick have also now got to recruit a new qualified accountant and as this person has a specified statutory role in respect of the finances it will be interesting to see how much they will eventually have to offer to someone craven enough to join a council currently mired in scandal and prepared to do their bidding!

It is clearly a matter of considerable public interest whether Hussain was allowed by the "leader" to be a member of the firing squad. As the whole thing descended into a complete fiasco we can safely say that Cooper was present, but who else? Why is this still being covered up a fortnight after the event.

The Turdmeister himself promised a new golden age of transparency and openness from Sandwell Labour. What happened to that?

Remember the Regional Fraud Team investigation is continuing - please phone 0121 251 2175
- DS Wayne Haynes - with any info.

Is Hussain STILL pulling the strings?

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

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

Confidential phone no: 07599 983737

Twitter Permits Trolls to Try to Silence The Skidder!

Plus - how to troll on Twitter!

I know that many readers do not use Twitter but I hope you will please stay with me as this long post is really about the dark forces at work trying to force me to close this blog and my twitter accounts. In due course, I will certainly consider the latter option as I am totally disgusted at the way Twitter has dealt with me (and my wife) but as this is what the trolls are seeking to achieve it is a case, at present, of NO SURRENDER!

Again, I will try and keep this so that non-twitter users can understand things. I am involved in various projects and use certain different twitter accounts to compartmentalise matters. Thus, for example, I run a personal twitter account and an account promoting the arts in the West Midlands. My account scrutinising the activities of Sandwell Council is, as ever, shown at the bottom of this post for folk to be able to engage with me concerning matters "Sandwell". Like some political Twitter accounts, such as Guido Fawkes, I write under a pseudonym - Vernon Grant - although on a VERY much more modest scale! As many people knew right from the start, my real name is Julian Saunders. For the purposes of this post, it is principally the Vernon Grant account that is relevant.

I will try not to rehearse too much of the information contained in earlier posts but a small amount of "scene-setting" is required to put matters in context. The political establishment in Sandwell and the "leader" of the Council, Labour's Darren Cooper, in particular have taken great exception to my blog and twitter account and he has often used what he alleges is his personal account "@sandwellleader" (!) to attack and deride me (and my wife). This has even included having me covertly photographed in the pub opposite Sandwell Council house and placing the result on his own account (it is not yet known whether taxpayers' money was used to obtain this shot shown below).

Trolls, are people who set up Twitter accounts for malicious purposes and my wife and I have been subjected to a number of campaigns against us to date. Ones such as the now defunct @ian_crow were more risible than threatening although undoubtedly abusive (eg referring to me as "vermin" and "a vile bag of shit".

 Labour's Darren Cooper was attacking me and the blog for a considerable time. He has certain favourite themes which he repeats ad nauseum eg. that I am operating a "false" account; that when his decision to close The Public threw 60 people including my "wifey" (as he and, purely concidentally, a number of the trolls, call her) out of work she received a massive pay-off; that I am a "Ukipper" and that everything I write in my blog is false.

Let me just deal with those issues quickly:

1. Probably 100 people in and around Sandwell (if not more) knew that "Vernon Grant" was a pseudonym and exactly who I am. It was just that it took Cooper and his huge, taxpayer-funded, "communications department" several months to make the connection. As I pointed out to Cooper months ago, "Guido Fawkes" is not, er, the real name of the person writing that blog! As many folk knew exactly who I was it is difficult to say that it was/is a "fake" account!;

2. It seems strange for a Labour Council "leader" to use the derogatory term "wifey" but maybe that is now an approved term within the party. Linda was thrown out of work after 33 years working for local authorities and received the standard council redundancy package as agreed in The Public's operating agreement by, er, Darren Cooper! Not a penny more and not a penny less. (It is interesting to note that, on a number of occasions, Cooper has fired top people at SMBC and paid them way over their contractual termination payments in return for them signing "confidentiality agreements" - more on this in due course....). Incidentally, Linda left with a glowing reference;

3. I am not a "Ukipper". I talk to people of all political persuasions in Sandwell (including many discontented Labour members) but am not affiliated to any party;

4. Sandwell Council have not ONCE sought to contact me officially in respect of any inaccuracy in my blog. I did make one error sometime ago in respect of a Land Registry search which I corrected immediately. Other than that - zilch!

But things have started to get really nasty. This blog exposed a number of unusual "deals" involving Sandwell Labour Council and this was picked up by the mainstream media. The Police Regional Fraud Team have now launched an active investigation. It is commonly known that I have assisted the police investigation to the best of my abilities and intend to continue to do so (despite the campaign of intimidation). I now prefer that anyone with material evidence contact the police direct rather than me and to that end I have been publishing the Fraud Team's direct phone number on all posts. Nevertheless, I have been the recipient of a number of phone calls threatening me with extreme violence if I don't as one caller succinctly, if inelegantly, put it, "shut the f*ck-up".

Some of the other trolls have repeated Cllr Cooper's mantra with uncanny resonance - especially the current one.

 I won't repeat all of my blog of 2nd December, "Labour Leader & Unite Officer Harass Arts Charity" save to mention a couple of points vital to the story. Labour's Council "leader" and one of Unite the Union's Regional Officers, Brian Rickers got it into their thick heads that I worked for a Birmingham arts charity. Cooper, who is well known for his "anti-art" views, suddenly started "following" the charity and then Unite's Rickers started tweeting to them telling a series of lies - mostly that he had a friend who works for them who worked with me (he does not and I don't work for them). In less than a month he harassed the charity 12 times and then "Councillor" Cooper himself joined in at the end of November.

I set out the facts in my blog but by then Darren Cooper had discovered on 1st December that my wife actually works for the Birmingham charity and tweeted accordingly. On the same day, Cooper started following a twitter account BEFORE it had even become operative and then the blitz of abuse and harassment started. The Charity, my wife and, of course, myself were abused and harassed in over 200 tweets in 2 or 3 days.

The troll account came to life specifically USING MY NAME ie Julian Saunders @B**** I have the screenshots but don't wish to show them here as third parties are mentioned. You will see below that, maybe with the help of a political party's or trade union's dirty tricks department, the troll(s) behind this have then done a range of tricks to bamboozle Twitter and succeeded.

I managed to persuade Twitter to take the account down after THREE days. We are told that these people in California are super-smart but they do not seem to understand that it is highly unlikely that I would set up an account in my own name to troll myself and my wife! The troll(s) has convinced them that because they have so many followers they are genuine and so Twitter have re-instated the account! How could an account that has used my name and my wife's and my photos on the profile page EVER be - or become - legitimate!

As soon as the troll account was taken down Cooper himself then sent two tweets in his own name harassing the arts charity. On 4th December he threatened me with "more" sleepless nights to come (not that I have had any!)

Now here's funny thing. When I complained to Twitter they obliged me to scan my passpost and send it to them as proof of identity. As the troll has never given any name (apart from mine) did they get the trolls ID details? Come on Twitter, tell us all.....!

And here's another funny thing. Someone has gone to considerable trouble in sending e-mails to Twitter to get the account reinstated. This could  surely not have anything to do with the following cryptic quote tweeted from Darren Cooper himself could it, before the account was re-activated? (And see further below):

" 'I really do not see anything at all wrong with the postings you have brought to my attention'. Another important sentence Jules :)"

Surely that is not the wording from Twitter reinstating the account? If so, how has it found its way into Cooper's possession?

Guess who was immediately retweeting the troll - Brian Rickers of Unite the Union. Three Labour Councillors are now following the account - Bob Piper, Bob Lloyd and, of course, the psychic Darren Cooper. Rickers tweeted in his own name "The [troll a/c] has been re-born" and also tweeted to advise two other members of Unite.

Twitter allowed the troll(s) back this weekend and over the two days they sent just 18 (eighteen) tweets harassing the arts charity plus a further five linking my wife to them - mostly asking that she be dismissed from her post.

By a curious coincidence neither Cooper nor Rickers has personally harassed the charity whilst the troll account has been active......

ADDENDUM 18/12/14 - Twitter have finally taken the account down again but guess who popped up last night to continue the harassment - yes folks, it had to be one of two and it was "Cllr Darren Cooper @sandwellleader". What possible interest he can have in my wife's employment position other that to try and silence The Skidder by attacking her is for you (and the police) to decide but off he went anyway:

"Tell me when did your wife start at the Charity. Can you tell me the date please"

At the time of writing the troll account is still live (now finally taken down) as Twitter are forcing me to go through the complaints procedure all over again. Worse, there are at least two further troll accounts ready and waiting to go as soon as this one is finally closed down. The first one @jxxxxx is followed by the troll account and both accounts are the only two followers of @CashmoreDave even before that account has become active. Regular readers will recognise that name as being the same as that of a Sandwell Council employee and the husband of Labour's lying Councillor, Lucy Cashmore. I expect that Dave is actually nothing to do with any of this but that scurrilous information will be put out when the account becomes active and I will them be accused of being behind the account.

Below I am giving a guide of how to troll based on the recent experiences. This may encourage some to emulate this approach but Twitter needs to clean up its act. Clearly if you have a Twitter account you should note that our Californian friends will give you very little protection if you are attacked.

I should add here that a regular reader of The Skidder has recently had his account hacked into and had to close it. This caused immediate joy to two members of the Twitter community, Messrs Rickers and Cooper! I did not see the hacked content but it obviously referred to myself and other Sandwell Scrutineers. Cooper mocked us on Twitter and commented on the removal of the hacked account to Rickers:

"How can you tweet to yourself #twits. Bri where Mxxxx lol"

All this is also now in the hands of the police who Cooper and Rickers continue to mock - somewhat unusual as Cooper is the Chair of the West Midlands Police and Crime Panel! When the Fraud Team went into Labour's Sandwell Cooper sent the following tweet to me as a message that the local plod were treating the fraud allegations as a joke.

He believes that he is totally untouchable - presumably because of his position and the widespread local belief that one of his Labour colleagues has an exceedingly close relationship with Sandwell Police.

Cooper attacked three of us scrutineers - one of whom is very openly gay and proud of it - in respect of any police action with the hompohobic and mocking comment (again seeking the approbation of his Unite "operator"):

"They can all hold hands in the police station Bri lol".

I am not going to show the screenshots but this is a guide to how Twitter help the trolls to attack people:

1. Just change the name of the account as the trolling continues. As above the troll started tweeting using my name - Julian Saunders @Bxxxxx but then simply changed to The XXXXX @Bxxxx As above you would think the new masters of the universe would realise that I am not going to troll myself and my wife (or ex-wife as the troll started calling her)! Have Twitter EVER had a trolling account which has then become legitimate?

Thus we had tweets in MY NAME with my PHOTO on profile and an large photo of ME in the text saying, eg:

"Have you been drinking driving last year. Killed a child? (Copy sent to the charity):

"Julian Saunders (name of former employer) What fraud did he commit here".

Now unless you watch your twitter account 24 hours a day and make a report the second this sort of stuff goes up the troll has you. They can "flash" these messages and then remove the tweet. Twitter refuse to let you send them screenshots and so you are completely stuffed and you are not allowed to bring these vile and defamatory tweets to their attention. What sort of system is that?

I cannot see how Twitter can deem tweets like the above as being acceptable but if the troll simply changes the name they seem to see it as some sort of genuine expression of freedom of speech! Having supplied Twitter with a scan of my passport page when they could check the photo against the troll account you have to again ask - why would I troll myself?

2. Twitter ignore changes of profile and photographs. Here the troll kept changing the profile picture to include ones of me and of my wife but then finally settled on a lion motif. Why would a genuine twitter user steal our photos for the profile next to tweets defaming us? Twitter refuse to check back on this and again refuse to accept screenshots confirming the troll has been doing this! Even when Twitter reinstated the account they failed to read the wording of the profile which defamed my wife and contained a hashtag frequently used by the troll to her employers #lindamustgo!

Further, here is yet another illiterate attack on me screenshotted next to a picture of myself:

"his crying like bitch know, come on sue me. You'll get sued first #pisshead" and

"(copying in charity) did you and wifey enjoy that. It's not nice isn't [sic] more to come".

3. As above Twitter refuse to allow you to defend yourself by sending screenshots. A member of The Skidder team diligently screenshotted everything during waking hours but Twitter won't look at it. Fortunately it has been committed to a memory stick and handed to the Police!

4. Twitter were made aware by me in detailed e-mails of the police investigation and that I, as a blogger, have faced threats of physical violence as well as trolling. Nevertheless, they took the trolls word ahead of mine and reinstated the account. What passport scan did they receive? Why didn't they come back to me for comment before reinstating the account?

5. Twitter are only interested in the number of followers. Thus the troll(s) started following nearly a thousand people at one point in the hope (a) that they would retweet the lies and (b) that they would "follow" back. The troll then started claiming that the number of followers was proof of its legitimacy and Twitter apparently accepted this. The troll(s) was boasting of this when reinstated. As it was, there were very few local folk following and most of the followers were dotted around the world and of the late-night soiled-underpants brigade. No-doubt there are a few who get carried away but surely it is unusual for someone to start following nearly a 1,000 obviously random people in just over two days. Even a cursory glance at the followers by our American cousins should have started alarm bells ringing...

6. The process of reporting is painfully slow and the troll can run amok until finally stopped.

7. I cannot understand why twitter actually allow followers to an account before it "goes live". This allows a number of like-minded trolls to act in concert and give the troll account maximum publicity straight away.

8. The troll then tried to make the account appear a legitimate campaigning account and, by the looks of it, sent "legit" tweets to Twitter to reinstate the account. But Twitter did not apparently look back at either the original trolling nor my very detailed e-mails before reactivating the account. They are VERY easily duped!

9. Finally, just say you are not a troll although you would think the clever Californians might investigate when they read this sort of thing (note the interesting choice of a particular word):

"This a/c is not a troll please ignore vernon the vermin grant".

On a lighter note the troll kept putting a cropped photo of my ugly mug on the Profile whereas the whole picture shows that I was gazing in a totally smitten way at a beautiful young lady.....

Frankie My Dear - I DO Give a Damn!

Direct line to the Regional Fraud Team - DS Wayne Haynes - 0121 252 2175

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

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

Confidential phone no: 07599 983737