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!
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| 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!!!!!
THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!
Confidential phone no: 07599 983737 Email: thesandwellskidder@gmail.com
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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?
