In The Public Domain?

Wednesday, 26 July 2023

BREAKING NEWS: The Turd of Sandwell aplogises!

Who knows what, if anything, goes on inside the head of the "Leader" of bent Labour Sandwell Council, Kerrie "Dim Kez" Carmichael, and what on earth was behind her crazed decision to make Bent?* Billy Gavan the Mayor of Sandwell? Anyone who has had anything to do with Sandwell politics knows that Gavan is a complete **** and it is incredible that bent Labour should make him The Turd of Sandwell when he had left the Party to join the Tories (who immediately kicked the scumbag out lol!) Perhaps Kez appreciates the fact that, like herself, The Turd is unable to control himself in polite society (Skidders passim).

This blog forecast that Dim Kez's decision would end in tears and so it has come to pass in just 56 days. On Monday this blog reported some of The Turd's appalling behaviour at the Extraordinary Meeting of the corrupt Council on 18th July. You can watch a couple of short videos via this link:

https://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com/2023/07/turd-begins-to-smell-much-more.html

Not one Labour Councillor in the history of this blog has ever apologised for their appalling misconduct - save for a couple of examples when they were forced to do so! Not so long ago a pathetic former Mayor, Mushtaq Hussain, steadfastly refused to say sorry for his outrageous behaviour. But last night The Turd apologised publicly although it is highly unlikely that such a loathsome person would have done this without being forced to do so. I explained in Monday's post that he was opening up the Council to potential legal action by his bullying threats to elected members. He is also itching to have a go at people lawfully present in the public gallery.

Like many who bully, The Turd is a pissy-kilt coward (Skidders passim ad nauseum and see legal notice below). Before his inexplicable rise to the Mayoralty Gavan usually used the tradesmen's entrance (no double entendre intended) to enter Oldbury Council House so as to avoid protesters and journalists outside the linkway. And for the first time in living memory he did this last night as Mayor, which was a sure sign that even this thick plank realised his conduct last week was well out of order.

There was talk of the Conservative Councillors refusing to stand when The Turd entered the Chamber but they bottled it, and duly rose to honour this POS.

The Turd was nervous when he started the meeting and read the same passage about filming the meetings out twice. He then had to be shown what to do next. Bent? Billy then said this about last week's shaming degringolade:

"I have reflected on my conduct and accept that it fell short of what is expected of me given my position."

THIS IS AFTER JUST 56 DAYS!

Reading from a prepared script (!) The Turd then "sincerely" apologised to the Council collectively and to two Councillors in particular.

When Mushtaq Hussain lost the plot there were only a couple of meetings left before the end of his Mayoral term of office and he was replaced for the final meetings. But The Turd is in office until next May and given his vile personality the bookies after offering 4-1 ON that he soils himself and the reputation of the Council again before too much longer. This is frightening, as is the prospect of his Deputy taking the Chair as she gives every outward appearance of being brain-dead!

As the old saying goes, "we live in interesting times!"

* Bent? as in corrupt?, crooked?

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PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

LEGAL NOTICE (Version 3 from 14th February, 2021)

I cannot list every previous mention of individuals referred to in the entirety of this blog. Where I refer to a specific story please follow the supplied hyperlink since this forms legal justification for later comments. Similarly references to “posts or Skidders passim” and to earlier posts mean any individuals concerned about purported defamatory or otherwise unlawful material must read later posts in the context of earlier posts. Full information can also be supplied within a reasonable time upon application via email to thesandwellskidder@gmail.com

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.

Every now and again we make a genuine honest error and get something wrong. If an error in the blog affects you please email thesandwellskidder@gmail.com and we shall use our best endeavours to publish appropriate corrections forthwith.

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Monday, 24 July 2023

Turd begins to smell + much more!

Mystic Skidder

On 21st May, 2023 I wrote a blog about Labour's Bent?* Billy Gavan becoming the new Turd Of Sandwell (aka Mayor) who may or may not be one and the same person who raped taxpayers for £5k in a corrupt deal (** blog link below and Skidders passim).

It was only a matter of time before this POS soiled the mayoral robes and started to behave in his usual appalling manner. In particular, I pointed out that Bent? Billy would soon attack the Tories - not least because he is a prissy ***** who joined the Conservative Party online - but they had the good sense to immediately kick him out when they realised. ROFLMAO!

And so it came to pass at an Extraordinary Meeting of the corrupt Council concerning bent Labour's disastrous dustbins deal with Serco, which has caused so much expense and misery for Sandwell folk. Please take a look at the shocking conduct of The Turd in these two short clips, and note especially his incredible statement that he was "dying" to throw elected members out of the Chamber. I warned Sandwell - from personal experience - that Bent? Billy is a complete **** but he cannot be allowed to get away with this sort of behaviour. Not only is he bringing the Council into even more disrepute (if that is possible) but he is opening up the rotten Borough to potential legal action.

Turd: the inevitable, Part One

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/t7jP6fb-OGo

Turd: the inevitable, Part Two

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMKu0uzmxKA

"Fascist" Rally in Wednesbury (LOL!)

Talking of Bent? Billy, here he is leading an all-white rally of Brexit-loving right-wingers (or whingers) in sh*thole Wednesbury:

This event was actually a knees-up run by a "charity" called Lets Dance Again (of which more anon) which revels in nostalgic w*nkfests where the same elderly xenophones who shafted their children and grandchildren over Brexit - due to their hatred of "foreigners" - wave Union flags with a frenzy that makes a Nuremberg Rally look restrained.

One of the "trustees" of the "charity" put up 70 (seventy) photos of the above event on social media and in a startling display of Wednesbury white-power there did not appear to be a single person present who was not lily-white - incredible given the diversity of Sandwell folk, and astonishing in that charities these days are supposed to be "inclusive". Also - this organisation is using large parts of Wednesbury Town Hall for free courtesy of corrupt Sandwell Labour so that the taxpayer is picking-up some of the the tab for these horribly jingoistic assemblies.

And "cumming" soon is the one event of the year guaranteed to create an orgiastic frenzy over the cod'n'chips (roe and chips also available) - a performance by the D-Day Darlings! Notwithstanding that attendees would have to be 79-plus to have even been born at D-Day there are a miniscule number of flag-wavers who were even around on that fateful day, let alone involved in the invasion but, hey, it was a victory over the kr*uts, and that's all that matters.

It's deja vu all over again!

Of course, Let's Dance Again (LDA) is a plaything of the odious liar, Elaine Costigan (Skidder passim ad nauseum), who has taken the opportunity of getting out of the crap town of Wednesbury asap, and now lives in bucolic Staffordshire. Regular readers will recall her poisonous involvement in an identikit organisation, Wednesbury Celebrates (WC!), which duly became mired in scandal.

WC screwed the taxpayer and funding organisations as well as being a promotional tool of the bent Labour Council. Many Sandwell charities are, of course, fronts for corrupt local Labour and, as with WC, history is repeating itself. This is part of a letter I recently forwarded to the Charity Commission (with a redacted copy to LDA itself) - unfortunately some of what follows must remain redacted for the time being:

"Let’s Dance Again CIO - registered no: 1202816

This so-called “Charity” has only recently registered with you and there is an opportunity for the Commission to intervene here at an early stage and to prevent history repeating itself. The Trustees are apparently flouting Charity Law and urgently need guidance on the appropriate way to conduct themselves.

I refer as evidence herein to numerous blog posts published via thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com with regard to a (former) organisation called Wednesbury Celebrates and those relating to Elaine Costigan, who is now a Trustee of Let’s Dance Again CIO (LDA). If the Commission requires assistance I will be happy to refer to specific blog posts. I did, however, make public a redacted copy of a Report I submitted to West Midlands Police in respect of some of the antics at Wednesbury Celebrates:

https://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com/2015/10/wednesbury-celebrates-crime-report.html

[Redacted]

It is of considerable public concern that LDA is a clone of Wednesbury Celebrates in almost every way. This time, however, LDA is a registered with you and you have regulatory oversight.

I refer you to the LDA Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/431916475621940/

(Let’s Dance Again CIO - public group.)

[Redacted]

The Trustees of the Charity recently bought expensive tickets specifically for a Labour Fundraising Dinner. I have invited those attending from LDA to confirm whether they used the Charity’s funds to pay for these tickets, but have not received a response as yet. Here is an edited extract of a recent blog post about the event:

“Interestingly Labour First, which organised the flash dinner event, didn't give much of a discount for tables of ten:

(Image: "Tickets are £100 per seat or £1,000 for a table of ten")

Another point of interest is that although this was a political fundraiser a number of people from Let's Dance Again turned up. LDA is, of course, the bastard child of the infamous "Wednesbury Celebrates" run partly by former Councillor Elaine Costigan. That piece of work used Wednesbury Town Hall for the former organisation without bothering to actually pay any rent (Skidders passim and see legal notice below). Since the supposedly "public organisation" folded she has steadfastly refused to say what happened to its remaining money.

To facilitate Costigan and her pals SMBC decided that, for the most part, community organisations could use Wednesbury Town Hall for free. Costigan and others set up LDA and now boast that they have taken over the balcony for their use and also hold regular events in the main hall with use of the kitchens etc. If Costigan and/or others repeat the previous trick, LDA will also be trying to screw the taxpayer for funds via the bent Council.

The difference this time is that LDA has recently registered as a "charitable incorporated organisation" (CIO) with the Charity Commission - the trustees being Costigan, Debora Price and Maxine Hipkiss. This means that they will eventually have to file an annual return and accounts which will be publicly available. What is surprising, therefore, is that the Trustees and at least one other LDA person turned up at the Labour fundraiser (if you exclude the cynical view that they hope to screw money out of Sandwell Labour Councillors). Costigan, Price, Hipkiss and someone called "Jo" turned up - ostensibly paying £100 a ticket. No doubt they paid this out of their personal money since it would clearly have been wholly inappropriate to use the CIO's money for such a purpose. I am sure they will hasten to confirm the position so that I do not need to alert the Charity Commission about them too!”

End of blog extract.

The Labour Mayor of Sandwell is described as a “guest” at the LDA table and it is not clear whether LDA paid for his ticket too. Further, it is not known whether any other expenses for attendance - additional drinks, taxis etc have been booked to the Charity.

I do not believe what follows is technically illegal but it is very surprising that - just as Wednesbury Celebrates did - LDA is holding collections at events for other charities and not for their own funds! At the latest event the collection was for the Mayor’s Charity and not for LDA itself. Whilst this is a blatant attempt to curry favour with the Mayor it is also surprising noting that LDA will inevitably have to seek external funding as it racks up large losses on its uneconomic events.

End of letter.

External funders will indeed be shocked that LDA is raising money for other charities rather than applying these funds for their own supposedly charitable aims!

But the Trustees continue to take the p*ss

Once again LDA has actively been promoting the Labour Party. Here is my second letter to the Charity Commission today which needs to act NOW.

"On 28th June, 2023 I wrote to you regarding serious concerns about two Sandwell charities, Sandwell Leisure Trust and Let’s Dance Again CIO. I await your acknowledgement but, in the meantime, further matters have arisen in respect of the second “Charity”, Let’s Dance Again (LDA)

I should have mentioned in my first letter that this organisation’s address (as shown above) is “℅ Sandwell Council”!

In my first letter I referred to the trustees using the “Charity” for Party political purposes. The promotion of the Labour mayor and the attendance of the Trustees at a Labour Party fundraising dinner being two of the questionable examples noted.

A redacted copy of my letter to you was forwarded to the LDA Trustees and they have provided a two-fingered response. LDA used yet another of their events to promote the Labour Mayor (again) and also Labour’s Tom McNeil who has aspirations to be the next Labour candidate for Wedensbury and is currently an Assistant Police and Crime Commissioner. As the attached photos show McNeil was given the stage for propaganda purposes."

Once again the Commission needs to remind the Trustees of the legal nature of charitable status as a matter of urgency.

End of letter.

(Note that The Turd has donned the Mayoral Chain for this propaganda exercise!)

And here he is - McNeil given a platform:

Langley Labour encourage kids to execute enemies of Socialism

The Turd ran back to bent Labour Langley after The Tories scraped this particular piece of sh*t off their shoes. The three Labour Councillors in that foul ward back, amongst other things, the destruction of Lion Farm Fields. And via social media they also encourage kids to guillotine enemies in what they still perceive to be an ongoing class war. Nice people (not)!

And finally - more Sandwell history ...

I am archiving some Skidder material at the moment and re-discovered this recently about one of Costigan's gallowglasses. Mr X wrote to a third party:

"Walsall Council arranged for me to have an enhanced DBS [criminal record] certificate as one of their community champions (child workforce) so I could be involved in taking photos ... ". He seemed to think this was rather amusing when on social media:

Happily there is no evidence of him taking inappropriate photos of children, but Mr X was interested in another type of shot which is now illegal (racist expression redacted):

What a charming place sick Sandwell is!

* Bent? as in crooked or corrupt.

** https://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com/2023/05/turd-is-new-mayor-of-sandwell.html

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**** Phone No: 07470 624207 ****

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Post: Jules Saunders, 11 Chelworth Road, Birmingham B38 0BG

PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

LEGAL NOTICE (Version 3 from 14th February, 2021)

I cannot list every previous mention of individuals referred to in the entirety of this blog. Where I refer to a specific story please follow the supplied hyperlink since this forms legal justification for later comments. Similarly references to “posts passim” and to earlier posts mean any individuals concerned about purported defamatory or otherwise unlawful material must read later posts in the context of earlier posts. Full information can also be supplied within a reasonable time upon application via email to thesandwellskidder@gmail.com

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.

Wednesday, 12 July 2023

Early death in Sadders, Piper the Hypocrite and more on the Cops.

Those who interact with The Skidder on social media (contact details at the bottom of this post) will know that I had hoped to bring you a big story at the end of last week. For legal reasons (which will be explained shortly) I was unable to do so, but there may be developments tomorrow. Watch this space!

More taxpayers' cash up in smoke!

I have explained to Sandwell folk a number of times that their life expectancy in the Borough is lower - sometimes considerably lower - than elsewhere after 49 years of corrupt Labour dictatorship. Some recent statistics show this, er, graphically as shown by this info on just three of the benighted Borough’s wards:

The good news is that locals are likely to slip away before their time in Sh*thole Sadders where rates of cancer, circulatory disease, coronary heart disease, strokes and respiratory disease lead to horrifically increased mortality rates. At least corruption-loving morons won't have to endure life under the Labour jackboot as long as they might if they lived an "average" lifespan.

No wonder the likes of foul-mouthed Cllr Laura Rollins - who works on NHS data - couldn’t wait to move out of the poisonous dump.

One of the answers to this from sick Labour is to build on contaminated land wherever possible, and to destroy as much of the green space left in the urban dystopia as they can - Brandhall (see below), Londonderry Fields, Lion Farm Fields etc.

Sandwell Labour's latest wheeze (pun intended) is to appoint a Tobacco Czar at a mere £49,950 per annum! As an ex-smoker I do not see it is my role to lecture folk on giving-up save to say that there are now gums, patches and the like to assist would-be quitters, and even official medical help in some cases. There cannot be anyone out there apart from the mentally-ill or irredeemably stupid who are not aware of the clear message that smoking is bad for one’s health and so it is unclear why the taxpayer has got to pony-up another fifty grand per year (plus employment expenses and gold-plated pension) for someone to repeat this very clear message. In any event, bent Sandwell already has a sizeable public health department whom taxpayers surely expect to be already “on the case”.

As ever with bent Labour all is not quite as it seems. The new tobacco nanny must also cover, er, gambling addiction or as the job advert describes it:

“The post will also support delivery towards reducing harms for other commercial determinants (my emphasis) of health including gambling” and

“The role will include project management of an approach to address harms from all age tobacco/nicotine and gambling in particular.”

Whilst there is one readily available medical paper on the alleged correlation between gambling and nicotine addiction they are chalk and cheese. Many smokers are not gamblers, of course. The medical definitions of the two “harms” are different. Nicotine dependence is mostly pharmacological - hence the gums and patches - whereas pathological gambling is a behavioural disorder where the treatment is usually psychiatric assessment and counselling.

[There is an excellent organisation called Gamblers Anonymous if you need help. There does not appear to be a meeting site within Sandwell but there are ones in Quinton, Birmingham and Dudley - 0330 094 0322.]

Clearly the Czar will need to be an "expert" across the range - perhaps like the unlamented Mouth of the Mersey.

Of course, this blog has pointed out that pathological gambling amongst Sandwell Council STAFF is now so bad that bent Labour and the Unions have set up a “charter” to deal with the problem! Perhaps getting them back into offices might help? And the pathetic little spiv from South London who purports to be the MP for Warley, John Spellar, has been taking expensive freebies from the bookies and their trade organisation and then praising their industry in Parliament! Here he is my recent video expressing pride in being a greedy ****:

Piper and The Nimby’s

Comrade Robert Francis Piper is, of course, one of the vilest people in Sadders and gratuitously offensive to anyone who does not share his warped crypto-Bolshevik views. Whilst promulgating the nonsense of his guru, The Jezzatollah (aka Jerry “Jeremy” Corbyn), he loves to amass personal wealth - hence why he is raking in taxpayers’ dosh as “Deputy Leader” at age 76 (almost the same age as that other money-grubbing scumbag, Jeremy Knight Adams, whom Piper is trying to help destroy Lion Farm Fields).

In a public Council meeting, “Seig Heil*” Piper laid into the many people objecting to Labour’s plan to destroy a substantial part of Brandhall Green Space. The area around the beautiful Brandhall Green Space is RELATIVELY affluent by the standards of the Sandwell poverty ghetto, but the Bearwood Bolshie accused locals of being Nimby’s - a term of abuse usually reserved for middle class + people who object to building in their villages/neighbourhoods - hence the acronym which stands for “Not In My Back Yard.”

Of course, this is rich from the former paper-clip pusher at Walsall Council who lives directly opposite the heavily protected (unlike Brandhall) landscape that is Warley Woods. Indeed, here is a picture from outside his house of his delightful sylvan surroundings:

Incidentally, bent Sandwell Labour originally suggested Warley Woods as a possible site for The Scrotum (the Commonwealth Games Pool). Labour were desperate to build the white elephant anywhere they could and without any planning or due diligence whatsoever. After all, folks, it’s your money they are wasting not theirs. Of course. this supposedly “Green” Labour Group destroyed Londonderry Fields instead. When originally suggesting Warley Woods, however, they listed the site as Council-owned. But the indefatigable Viv Cole of the Warley Woods Trust has pointed out that most of the site is owned by, er, Birmingham City Council which then leased the Park to Sandwell who, in turn, leased it to the Trust. Thus bent Labour do not “own” it.

Whilst Piper is desperate to destroy green space for the residents adjacent to Brandhall there is no chance of his own view and lovely local amenity being wiped out. Warley Woods is Grade II listed and is smothered with covenants preventing building (including housing). Lucky old Bob!

Of course, another Labour politician who was instrumental in the plan to destroy Brandhall was another Corbynista, “Red” Yvonne Davies. Whilst happy to wreck the environment for locals she moved to a near-half million pound “cottage” in Herefordshire - so surrounded by gorgeous mature woodland it is almost impossible to see it from the road!

Workless Tipton Cops are at it again!

On the face of it there was some good news in Tipton this week. After a prolonged campaign by West Brom West Conservative MP, Shaun Bailey, and local Tory Councillors, Tipton Police Station has been saved from closure - at least for now.

However, you have to wonder what the point is given that local Blues have so little to do in crime-free Tipton that these taxpayer-paid individuals can go out litter-picking!

In my recent post (link below) I asked who the hell was authorising PC’s and PCSO’s to go out doing this type of work (which the taxpayer already pays the bent Labour Council /Serco to supposedly do anyway). The answer was two-fingers up from the underworked cops who then published themselves out doing it again! And this time the Bent Blues did another "copsucker" tweet bragging that officers (plural) had been out litter-picking with their pals at deeply corrupt Sandwell Council! WTF is going on?

https://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com/2023/06/bent-cops-bin-strike-special.html

But … a new broom?

Rather than picking up a few Twix wrappers in Tipton we need Sandwell Police to sweep away the corruption promulgated by Sandwell Labour. There have been a few promising signs in recent times - Chief Super Rich Baker took a while, but finally realised that WMP were being played by bent Labour. And TCS Maria Fox also seemed to be aware that unquestioning support for corrupt Labour was not the way ahead. But there has been one step forward and two steps back in the last few years. There are also a worrying number of Councillors and their cronies now who have close contact with local drug and crime barons - the same ones who allegedly have close “partnerships” with, er, WMP officers.

Anyway - fair play - we need to give the new head honcho a chance and so welcome and “good luck” to Sandwell Chief Superintendent Kim Madill (pictured).

Skidder News

I am attempting to work on several projects at the moment including Sandwell stuff. But I will be stepping up Sandwell work over the coming weeks. To that end I am now specifically working in Sandwell (Bearwood) one day a week (usually Tuesdays). If anyone needs to meet me and they can get to Bearwood so much the better but other arrangements can be made by appointment as usual. Email address below.

* So-named as he walked into a crowded Oldbury pub and gave a Nazi salute whilst shouting "Seig Heil". Laughably he was Chair of bent Labour Sandwell's Licensing Committee at the time!!!!!

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

**** Phone No: 07470 624207 ****

Email: thesandwellskidder@gmail.com

Facebook: Julian Saunders

Facebook Group: The Sandwell Skidder - Speaking Truth To Power!

Twitter: Publisher: @CrowMultimedia; Julian Saunders: @SandwellSkidder

Post: Jules Saunders, 11 Chelworth Road, Birmingham B38 0BG

PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

LEGAL NOTICE (Version 3 from 14th February, 2021)

I cannot list every previous mention of individuals referred to in the entirety of this blog. Where I refer to a specific story please follow the supplied hyperlink since this forms legal justification for later comments. Similarly references to “posts passim” and to earlier posts mean any individuals concerned about purported defamatory or otherwise unlawful material must read later posts in the context of earlier posts. Full information can also be supplied within a reasonable time upon application via email to thesandwellskidder@gmail.com

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.

Thursday, 6 July 2023

Sandwell Council - Rolling Log of Employee Misconduct and Outside Interests

BREAKING NEWS - Gillian Douglas, bent Labour's Director of Housing is leaving after just two years. The plan was to clear out the dross (excluding Surjit Tour) and bring some stability at the top of the paid service. Well that went well ...

Of course - the appalling Tour has now gone. More anon

In the real world of work - outside the feather-bedded environment of local authorities - employees are usually obliged by their contracts to obey rules and to act diligently. But at bent Labour Sandwell Council a number of employees have sinned in various ways - from facilitating corruption to shocking incompetence.

In many cases miscreants have been paid-off with large sums of public money. Invariably they sign gagging-clauses to prevent them from spilling the beans. But, in many cases, these people face no sanction at all for their misconduct, negligence or ineffectiveness.

This blog has recorded many incidents of wrongdoing from theft to gross incompetence. But these incidents are usually kept secret. Further, there has been a deliberate policy of failing to keep records. This ranges from outright fraud - like the bent Lion Farm deal - and the wholesale destruction of records (unquestioned on numerous occasions by the Office of the Information Commissioner and even by the Information Rights Tribunal), right through to staff who simply cannot be arsed to fulfil their contractual duties.

There has been a history of dealing and consumption of Class A drugs within the workforce. Some specific names have been supplied to Sandwell Police over the years but, inevitably, they have not moved against their pals.

We now know that many employees are supposedly "working from home" so that the Oldbury Kremlin is now like the Marie Celeste. It remains to be seen whether this fact is linked to the apparent upsurge in gambling addiction within the shirkforce. Apparently bent Labour and the Unions claim this addictive behaviour is now so bad that they have had to agree a "Charter" so that taxpayers' can also fork out for the rehabilitation of the pen-pushing punters! When it comes to bent Labour, Sandwell taxpayers - like mug punters - always lose.

In the circumstances, The Skidder Team is starting a rolling blog post to name errant employees. As SMBC staff face no sanction for most wrongdoing, it is appropriate to shine a spotlight on what has been happening so that taxpayers can ask their Councillors why this deeply corrupt Council (currently in Government "special measures") causes and/or permits this continuing sh*tshow.

Another issue that this post - which will be updated from time to time - will deal with is the moonlighting of a number of staff. The normal rules in most councils are that employees wishing to do work on the side must get permission from line managers and, clearly, this must not conflict with the "day job". Further there is a Register of Interests where employees are usually required to list outside interests. As we shall see, in bent Labour Sandwell Council, the likes of fraudster Naseem Khan (pictured here recently with spiv John Spellar MP) simply did not report his interest in four companies to his employers. (His business interests were well known to a number of Labour Councillors who kept schtum.) Even if employees do make disclosure, the public are not allowed to see this as Sandwell claims this would be unlawful disclosure of personal data.

It is a matter of considerable public interest that some employees cannot live on their taxpayer-provided income and need to take on extra jobs to enhance their wealth. Further, most taxpayers will be concerned that the likes of Khan can run side-hustles whilst supposedly devoting themselves to full-time for the service of the public.

It is not illegal to take on additional jobs (subject to contractual disclosure) and no such imputation should be taken from an employee's inclusion in this blog. As ever, readers - including employees - are referred to the Legal Notice below.

Accordingly, as Sandwell are trying to keep these issues secret The Skidder Team will be providing this log. It should be noted that some of those listed may have now left SMBC but records show that they were running businesses contemporaneously with their employment.

There are some employees who have left whom we are still interested in, such as David Stevens and Stuart Lackenby . We are also interested for more on the employee who worked mostly on her back during Covid - "debriefing" a Labour Councillor.

Some of the following are historical incidents or ones that are some years old, but which have mostly only recently come to light. The list is rather sparse at the moment but we are checking anecdotal evidence about a number of other individuals, including regarding property interests. We will add to this "blog log" from time to time. Please feel free to add your own experiences via any of the contact methods set out below.

Incidentally, most Sandwell Council employees are on a cushy number as it is, but Labour and the unions are beginning to press for a 4-day week on the same pay. SMBC is full of dross but the evidence is that where clever people swing a 4-day week they do not use the spare day for leisure but do extra work elsewhere.

Names below in surname alphabetical order.

Version 3 - 07/08/23 (Addition in Blue)

Jan Britton - this **** got away with (metaphorical) murder. Most of his misdeeds are secret, but he was instrumental with Eling and others in institutionalising corruption in the benighted Borough. He used an encrypted Blackberry to conceal his misconduct and leave no "paper trail". He colluded with Paul Reeves (see below) with regard to the evidence at a criminal trial and then lied in the witness box. Incredibly, given his all-powerful status, Sandwell Council itself reported him to West Midlands Police where his son was working at the time. Needless to say the Bent Blues did nothing. The good news was that when his disgrace belatedly came he was booted out without the usual mega pay-off - just receiving the money he was contractually entitled to. The bad news is that local government is a sick world. You might wonder who on earth would employ someone with such an appalling - and well-documented - record but the answer is Joe Harris, the Leader of Cotswold District Council. He and others decided that four councils in the area need a useless liar mired in corruption scandals to run their administrations, and so Britton walked straight into a job with Publica Group which runs the quartet.

Kim Bromley-Derry - appointed as Interim Chief Executive in a rigged process following the sacking of disgraced David Stevens this guy was allowed to retain his position as a Group Director of property developer, McLaren Construction Group. When the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Michael Gove, put bent Labour Sandwell into "special measures" he bizarrely appointed KBD as the lead Commissioner - despite his conduct (particularly in respect of the Imogen Walker affair). Gove also permitted him to retain his McLaren directorship.

Brian Carmichael - husband of the lying "Leader" of bent Labour Sandwell, Kerrie "Dim Kez" Carmichael and on the taxpayer payroll at SMBC. Dim Kez reports that he is employed as an "Architectural Technologist" who also does "private work on private properties".

Cllr Steve Eling - This is a slightly odd entry in this list since Eling was not an employee of Sandwell Council but the political Leader of it whilst also working at another Labour basket-case Council, Rotherham. Thus he was raking-in pay at one council and allowances at the other.

Eling was reported by a number of Sandwell employees as having a vile temper and he institutionalised the corruption which was already rampant when he was one of two Deputy Leaders. Rotherham MBC claimed that he was working for them as a “political officer” but that this was NOT a politically-restricted post.

As the corruption intensified on his watch at Sandwell the long-serving and (too) loyal Cabinet secretaries were suspended after Eling thought they had exposed the Monitoring Officer in what appeared to be misconduct. A Councillor in the private section of the Council House where the Leader’s Office is situated was heard screaming, “I want the f*ckers out and I don’t want the f*ckers back”. Many sources say this was Eling and he has never formally denied the allegation. (As it was, Eling was totally wrong and the secretaries were not the whistleblowers. They were all reinstated with an apology and a small compensation payment. The principal senior employee doing Eling’s dirty work was hapless s.151 officer Darren Carter who moved on to Reading Council despite his track record.)

Since Eling was splitting his time between Sandwell and Rotherham (and actually living for most of the time in a pretty north Derbyshire village) he needed a right-hand man to be his enforcer at Sandwell whilst he was absent, and he chose a ludicrous figure, Cllr Richard Marshall. The pair met with me and in return for exposing two other of their senior Labour Councillors (which I was doing already) they offered to feed me confidential Council information or, as they put it, there would be “more leaks than Wales”.

To that end the pair set up a WhatsApp account to send the confidential information to me. Most of the feed is available at my posts dated 5th November, 2017: Steve Eling - You Are A F*cking Liar!

Amongst much appalling output the pair (a) asked me to give the female Assistant Chief Executive “a good kicking”, (b) suggested they might arrange a travellers’ site next door to an enemy’s property development so the travellers could “shit in the gardens” of the new houses, (c) alleged that a fellow Labour Councillor's Partner was a transexual or, as they put it, “a cock in a frock, and (d) envisaged a married Labour Councillor “sp*nking” over a female Councillor “in her bikini” since this would be better than the male “doing his wife” - also a Labour Councillor.

Despite Rotherham Council having full knowledge of all this, and in the sick, sick, world of local government, they made Eling their “Equalities Officer”. Eling was suspended by the Labour Party and did not contest his Council seat but remains the Chair of an important local charity, Warley Woods Community Trust, who think he is wonderful and are content to ignore his truly shocking track record (of which this extract only details a small part).

Adrian Hackwood - according to Hackwood himself, he started at SMBC as a techniical assistant way back in 1989 but became a Neighbourhood Repairs Officer from 1995 "to present" - although a SMBC document states that he joined the Urban Design and Building Services Team as a "Stock Condition Surveyor". However he also states that from August 2009 "to present" (nearly 14 years) he has also run his own Company "Hackwood Property Assessors" providing building surveys, reports, inventories etc. He also claims to be contacted with "Elmhurst Energy".

Naseem Khan - the recently convicted fraudster has been dismissed by the bent Labour Council despite his close relationship with many Labour Councillors - notably the deeply corrupt liar Simon Hackett and also Lachrymose Luke Giles. He was running four limited companies whilst employed by the taxpayer and failed to declare any of them to his employers. Oh and here is the fraudster out and about with Cllr Pam Randhawa - the Chair of Sandwell Police's Independent Advisory Group!

Addendum 19/04/25 - Someone purporting to be Khan is now putting pressure on me. Here is the write up at the time from the Wolverhampton Express and Star. I have nothing more to add.

Addendum 08/07/25 - I cannot bring you the E&S piece as it is claiming copyright for it! Their pettiness and hate campaign against this blog knows no bounds!

Khan was convicted at Walsall Mags and given a 12 month

Paul Reeves - this POS (happily now gone) infamously ran a gardening business, Paul's Gardens, whilst working for the Council. Astonishingly, disgraced liar and former Chief Exec, Jan Britton, made Reeeves head of security at the height of the Eling-era corruption. Previously he had worked hand in glove with wifebeater Leader, Darren Cooper, in using social media to "troll" me and my wife. Here is an example of his malicious and defamatory handiwork concerning my wife:

Of course, as regular readers know, Reeves has some great pals in corrupt West Mids Police. They declined to charge him and Jan Britton after the pair (a) colluded in respect of their evidence at the notorious "C*cksucker Trial", and (b) lied on oath in the witness box - both Reeves and Britton made exactly the same false statement.

Kelly Robinson - an Operations Manager of long standing at bent Labour Sandwell who states on LinkedIn that she is also a "property developer", being a Director of Pepperbox Properties Limited (which is confirmed by Companies House).

David Stevens - another disgraced Chief Exec who was sacked by short-lived "Leader" Rajbir "The Boy Blunder" Singh, who himself did a moonlight flit amidst lurid rumours. The truth has yet to come out on the sacking but we live in hope ...

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PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

LEGAL NOTICE (Version 3 from 14th February, 2021)

I cannot list every previous mention of individuals referred to in the entirety of this blog. Where I refer to a specific story please follow the supplied hyperlink since this forms legal justification for later comments. Similarly references to “posts passim” and to earlier posts mean any individuals concerned about purported defamatory or otherwise unlawful material must read later posts in the context of earlier posts. Full information can also be supplied within a reasonable time upon application via email to thesandwellskidder@gmail.com

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.

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Version 1 - 06/07/23; Version 2 - 15/07/23; Version 3 - 07/08/23;

Friday, 30 June 2023

Bent Cops & Bin Strike Special!

Firstly, I feel the need to share with you some correspondence I have had with West Midlands Police (WMP). I am looking to sue West Midlands Police for unlawfully sharing my personal data in 2018 with Sandwell's highly controversial Monitoring Officer, Surjit Tour, and another - external - Solicitor, Jonathan Goolden who was brought in by Tour to exonerate former Leader, Steve "Squealing" Eling, in respect of various standards complaints concerning his appalling behaviour. (They rigged the process but it was to no avail as the Tyrant was - eventually - forced out.)

Regular readers with long memories will recall that Eling (Sp*nk Brother One), his sidekick Cllr Richard Marshall (Sp*nk Brother Two), and Inane Elaine Costigan made false and malicious complaints against me to their pals at WMP. These scum then unlawfully used Jan Britton, Surjit Tour and other Sandwell Council lawyers to assist their absurd case and to prepare a "dossier" for WMP. (Tour denies that a dossier was ever produced but at a Police interview under caution I was specifically shown a large bundle of neatly numbered papers and told by the interviewing cops that this was "a dossier prepared for them by Surjit Tour"!)

Astonishingly, WMP appointed its "Complex Crime Unit" in Wolvo to investigate me over a period of some 11 months. Meanwhile, The Squealer was pressurising the (then) local Chief Super in Sandwell, Rich Baker (now a WMP Assistant Chief Constable) to hurry things along - often copying in disgraced former Chief Executive Britton, Tour and others.

It took a while for the penny to drop but, fair play, "Rich" got there in the end, and realised that The Squealer was running a personal vendetta against me and wrote to him sternly telling him, in terms, to stop wasting Police time.

I should add that after this outrage, I had a series of communications with CS Baker. He was cordial, and appeared to me to be "straight".

After this absurd waste of public money I made a Subject Access Request to WMP concerning the communications between The Squealer and WMP. I eventually received an (incomplete) set of documents which were so heavily redacted as to often be meaningless (* see link at bottom of page if you feel like it).

Soon afterwards and thanks to some outside assistance I gained access to the unredacted emails (** - again, see link below if you are keen).

The emails showed that Eling was inappropriately copying in a number of people to the emails to his pal, "Rich". But as far as I can see, CS Baker very properly responded only to him without sharing my information with third parties. I have, however, asked WMP to confirm this which they have, so far, refused to do,

However, in one email of 13th March, 2018, before CS Baker had seen through his chum "Steve", he stated:

"There is a Gold Group running chaired by an Assistant Chief Constable and attended by Investigations, CPS, LA Monitoring Officer and Wilkin Chapman Solicitors."

It is patently obvious from this that WMP were inappropriately sharing information about me, and the investigation into me, with Tour and Goolden who simply should not have been present in any circumstances.

In response to my letter of claim, and after considerable delay, a Solicitor for the Chief Constable has written (despite the above email):

"In respect of the allegations that the Gold Group chaired by an ACC was attended by Wilkin Chapman and your personal data was shared without outsiders (Mr Tour and Mr Goolden) again I have not been able to find any evidence of this. There are both open and closed minutes in respect of these meetings, the closed meetings relating to periods where outside parties were asked to leave the meeting for WMP to further discuss issues that they were not privy to in relation to the investigation. Mr Tour and Mr Goolden did not attend the closed meetings. Your letter does not confirm what specifically was shared in relation to your personal data at these meetings."

This is highly convenient for WMP of course with, allegedly, two seperate sets of minutes - but this is an absolutely clear admission that Tour and Goolden attended the open meetings (plural) - at least - when they were nothing whatsoever to do with the case, were being paid by the taxpayer to work for the Council and not The Squealer and yet were unlawfully purporting to represent the interests of the political leader of the Council. Unless the open meetings (plural) were conducted in total silence how could WMP NOT have shared my data with this pair when discussing the case!

Of course, the Solicitor is also being disingenuous since I can't possibly say what was discussed since (a) I wasn't there, and (b) WMP are keeping the minutes secret.

WMP say they will fight my claim. I am consulting m'learned friends, but given the open admission by both CS Baker and the force's Solicitor you might think that the decent thing to do is to start a dialogue with me.

Sandwell Cops go litter-picking!

Anyone who follows social media in Sadders will be aware of the incessant stories of burglaries and thefts in the benighted Borough and the helpless wail from most correspondents that: "The Police don't want to know". We have also seen how WMP have (a) failed to even interview - let alone take action against - Sandwell politicians and staff in respect of allegations of fraud, theft, Class A drug possession and supply, and other offences, and (b) themselves used social media and other fora to rim the bent Labour Party at every opportunity (as featured in my occasional "Cops*suckers" posts).

If you are wondering why Sandwell Police can't help victims as they should, note this from Litterwatch - a well known Sandwell Labour front-organisation - who pictured two of Tipton's finest who have nothing better to do that go litter-picking at the taxpayers' expense. Something, incidentally, the taxpayer is already paying the Council/Serco to do. And then they have the audacity to claim that they are "under-resourced"!

Who the hell at WMP is authorising this nonsense?

Meanwhile - Shaun speaks out!

A rather spittle-flecked but nonetheless excellent intervention from West Bromwich West Conservative MP, Shaun Bailey, in Parliament on Wednesday on the bin strike roiling Sh*thole Sandwell. Shaun lambasted what he claims were the use of flying pickets by the GMB Union, the blocking of the new ambulance station by pickets and the alleged intervention of the Labour Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster, in an attempt to persuade WMP not to police the pickets. Further, he attacked the many Labour politicians - Keir "Sir Woodenarse" Starmer in particular - who are beholden to the GMB for financial support.

Bizarrely some local morons are blaming "the Government" for the bin strike chaos but it was corrupt Sandwell Labour who entered into the giant contract with lovely Serco:

Incidentally, if you are on Twitter there is excellent coverage of Labour's bins disaster via @CorruptSandwell and on Facebook at "Sandwell Corruption" via:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1934468453510195

It should be remembered that us taxpayers pay for a number of GMB Union reps to be employed by the bent Labour Council (through a statutory provision called "Facility Time"). I am campaigning now that this be reduced to one rep per Union only to save - as much as possible - the insanity of taxpayers paying the wages of the very ones who are currently inflicting the bin strike nightmare on, er, the taxpayers of Sadders!

Further, the GMB Union and other unions have been given free office space by bent Labour - the GMB Union is ensconced or nowt in Smethwick Council House. This also MUST stop.

But a big problem is that the all at sea Labour Sandwell Leader, Kerrie "Dim Kez" Carmichael, is a member of the, er, GMB Union (as is her husband who works for SMBC).

But Princess Prissy backs the bin misery

The grotesque Tom Watson has swung a posh paid-up member of the London metropolitan elite, Sarah Coombes, as the next Labour candidate for West Brom East (replacing the disastrous money-smuggler Ibrahim "Bogus" Dogus). The fact that she is clever and classy makes her an unlikely (metaphorical) bedfellow of the brutish Twatson, and how the hell has this lazy, thick coward and runaway still got any local influence?

The prissy Coombes has a McNallyesque thinness of skin and has set about blocking everyone on social media who is critical of Sandwell Labour. The numbers are ever mounting lol!

This Londoner does not have to endure the daily misery of the bin dispute, rubbish piling-up, fly-tipping, maggots crawling the streets etc., yet is actively promoting the GMB strike:

Twatson fell out with his puppet masters at Unite the Union, and jumped aboard the GMB gravy train. This vile Union faced a series of lurid allegations not so long ago, not least that a Labour MP was raped by a top union official and close associate of Lazy Tom (something Keir Starmer is keeping very quiet about!) A QC (now KC) described a "casting couch" culture at the Union and that it was "institutionally sexist". Further that:

"Bullying, misogyny, cronyism and sexual harassment are endemic within the GMB."

She described how GMB Union officials used their member's money for monumental p*ss-ups and added:

"I was also contacted by a number of people from Black and minority ethnic groups. They recognise that this investigation is concerned with sexual harassment but wanted to draw to my attention the very real and serious problems that exist for members and employees and Black and minority ethnic groups ... I am satisfied that the GMB is not a comfortable place to be for many employees and members from Black and minority ethnic groups … At the moment it [the GMB] is "white, male and stale"."

(For more on this horror story follow the *** link below.)

The Union officials had a predatory approach to women and sexual harrassment was rife. Happily Princess Prissy is seemingly unconcerned with regard to all this since she herself is being backed by the, er GMB Union! Remember her support of the bin strike folks when she comes round asking for your vote!

Facebook Group - The Sandwell Skidder: Speaking Truth to Power!

Just a note on the Facebook Group and a big hello to the large number of recent members. Why don't you join our merry throng via the link here if you haven't already done so?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1934468453510195

Please note that I am not in the business of censorship but the Group is a response to the fact that bent Labour control much of the local media - social and mainstream, including the Express and Star - and has massive resources to promulgate their vile propaganda. The Group is for those who are sick of 49 years of Sandwell Labour corruption, cronyism and incompetence.

There have been a number attempts recently to infiltrate the Group by Labour and Union characters - even Bob "Seig Heil" Piper and poisonous Pam "Mrs Squealer" Pulsford. These have been repulsed and certain other trouble-makers blocked.

I am going to desist from sending the "welcome" messages to new members as some infiltrators are sneaking in (at least for a while) but if you have the legitimate interests of Sadders at heart you are, indeed, very welcome"!

Please also note that we don't do commercial adverts, job notices etc. Finally, if your profile is blank you will be unlikely to be approved for the Group since most of these accounts are infiltrators, con artists etc. If there are genuine reasons for keeping your profile clear and you do want to join please DM or email me and we can sort things out (contact details below).

And now for something completely different ...

Earlier this year I visited the Somme to unravel a family mystery from World War One. If you get a spare moment this weekend some of you may like to have a read. Here's the link to the "As The Crow Flies" blog:

https://crowmultimedia.blogspot.com/2023/05/grand-uncle-jack-deserter.html

* https://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com/2018/11/squealing-eling-and-west-mids-police.html

** https://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com/2019/01/technical-blog-elingbaker-emails-in-full.html

*** https://crowmultimedia.blogspot.com/2022/06/

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

**** Phone No: 07470 624207 ****

Email: thesandwellskidder@gmail.com

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Twitter: Publisher: @CrowMultimedia; Julian Saunders: @SandwellSkidder

Post: Jules Saunders, 11 Chelworth Road, Birmingham B38 0BG

PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

LEGAL NOTICE (Version 3 from 14th February, 2021)

I cannot list every previous mention of individuals referred to in the entirety of this blog. Where I refer to a specific story please follow the supplied hyperlink since this forms legal justification for later comments. Similarly references to “posts passim” and to earlier posts mean any individuals concerned about purported defamatory or otherwise unlawful material must read later posts in the context of earlier posts. Full information can also be supplied within a reasonable time upon application via email to thesandwellskidder@gmail.com

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.

Friday, 23 June 2023

Carpool Karaoke Sandwell-Style i.e. including sh*gging (+ The Scrotum + more ...)

One of the mysteries at bent Labour Sandwell Council is how Head of Internal Audit, Peter Farrow, still has a job. As I have pointed out before, Farrow managed to miss multiple episodes of misconduct over many YEARS from Boggate, The Public, Lodge Street, The Coroner's office and much more including a number of whistleblowing complaints where Farrow effectively found that the employees who expressed concerns were liars and that there had not been any wrongdoing. His review of the apparently fraudulent SEND contract seems strange since after his investigation the contracts were - to all intents and purposes - given to the same person/his companies. Farrow is such a genius at his job that External Auditors found a host of serious problems at the corrupt and incompetent Council which he had seemingly overlooked, and these were so serious the Government had to send Commissioners in at a cost to taxpayers of at least £2m! But Farrow is Teflon-coated ...

Like many, I had high hopes of things improving when the Commissioners were appointed but have been sadly disappointed - not least by incredible delay in their responses. (I will be returning soon to the subject of bent Labour dishing out taxpayer-owned properties to pet charities and to the College which Michael Gove nationally, and all local Tory MP's and Councillors locally, seem to think is absolutely fine!)

A few weeks ago I received messages from employees telling me the same story. As ever they were too scared to speak out at work - unsurprising with what has gone on in the past - and hoped that I would follow-up on their behalf. I might as well p*ss my pants as contact Farrow, and so I went straight to the Commissioners who, after all, are supposed to be running the show.

The allegation - which could be very easily checked - is that a (male) Manager (partner status unknown) had been regularly taking cars from the Sandwell car pool (who knew they even had such a thing?) for "private" purposes. Further, his excursions were sh*gging trips with a married female employee. This was reported to the Commissioners on 9th MARCH, 2023. They asked for the names of the employees which I duly supplied on the same date. Since then, absolutely zilch. If the allegation has merit why has this not been dealt with by now - well over THREE MONTHS later? Indeed, has this conduct been continuing? Whatever the situation, these people need to clear the alleged miscreants or take appropriate action!

What the F is going on with The Scrotum?

Extraordinary goings on between bent Labour Sandwell Council and the Sandwell Leisure Trust (SLT). For those new readers who are unfamiliar with the SLT story so far here's a potted history.

Labour bullsh*tters set up SLT as a charity to run its leisure centres. At the time, Labour Councillors boasted that SLT would be a centre of excellence and be so good it would also run leisure centres outside the benighted Borough too. A crony, the aggressive Lynda Bateman, was put in charge and two Labour councillors were placed on the Charity's Board of Trustees & associated Company Board. Inevitably, like almost all of the comrades, these councillors had no business or commercial experience whatsoever.

The fact is that although SLT is nominally independent it relies for the bulk of its income from us taxpayers via the bent Labour Council and "he who pays the piper calls the tune".

Bateperson and Co. singularly failed with the empire-building plan, only running one other small leisure centre outside Sadders, in Bromsgrove. But they also became responsible for The Public via a new charity, Sandwell Arts Trust.

The wife-beater and bully Darren Cooper when he was, incredibly, the Labour Leader of the corrupt Council fell out big time with SLT. When the West Bromwich Leisure Centre was built he insisted that SLT would not run it and - to this day - it has been run by an outfit now known as "Places for People".

When Wednesbury Leisure Centre was being built SLT were desperate to get back into favour and sold their soul to the devilish Dickhead Daz, who was desperate to destroy The Public. In return for SLT shafting the Arts Trust they would get to run Wednesbury LC. And so it came to pass.

It is difficult to feel sympathy for this sh*tbag organisation (which has a history of other failures, job losses and the termination of successful sporting projects) but even someone with half a brain would appreciate how badly the organisation was hit by the Covid pandemic. You might think that even Labour Councillors would have realised this but ... The fact is that leisure centres could hardly operate and generate fees when they were, er, forced to close during lockdowns and subjected to stringent restrictions even when they could open. The Charity was in a parlous state and sensibly decided to try and rationalise its workforce, but this was an anathema to imbecilic Labour Councillors who believe that the taxpayer should continue to keep forking out for workers regardless of economics and/or sound management.

Unions and supposedly hard-left elements within Sandwell Labour Group set out to destroy the Council's "own" Charity! The vanguard of the attackers were "socialist" Cllrs poisonous Piper and gobby Fenton - neither of whom has ever run a whelk stall. As if this wasn't bad enough, the idiotic comrades then decided to "sack" SLT from running the leisure centres altogether including what may be the most expensive leisure centre/white elephant in the whole country, the multi-million pound Sandwell Aquatic Centre (aka the SAC or "Scrotum").

There appears to have been no opposition to this from the Tory MP's and Councillors (if you discount the odd tweet from Shaun Bailey). This appears to be (a) because the local Tories seem to be exclusively interested in Brandhall, dog sh*t and potholes, and (b) because they are cultish devotees of local Tory mage and visionary [sic], millionaire WM Mayor Andy Street, who tried to out-bullsh*t Labour in his support for the absurd financial disaster which was the Commonwealth Games. Accordingly the local Conservatives failed to attack the costs or ludicrous positioning of The Scrotum, nor that Labour STILL has no plan for the Thimblemill Baths building, nor the fiasco with SLT.

And so bent Labour - despite 49 years of failure and no commercial nous whatsoever - insanely thought that the corrupt Council could do a better job of running the leisure centres than SLT and decided to "sack" (or "SAC") their own Charity. What could possibly go wrong ...

It should be noted that all this is against a background of an increase in private gym provision across the Borough over the years. The "socialists" hate this. They want to undercut these businesses and keep charges to the public below economic costs. In the circumstances they cannot possibly break even, let alone make a profit.

I am also indebted to these erudite observations from Darren Stevens via Facebook regarding The Scrotum:

"A new Smethwick centre would have made a profit if it was half the size - [The Council's] signed its own death warrant agreeing it to be built for the Commonwealth Games - it will haemorrhage money and staffing and maintenance costs and the lack of usable space. It's also built in entirely the wrong place for transport and the community that surrounds it will not be able to afford to use it."

Despite the millions of OUR cash that bent Labour have ploughed into these centres - including The Scrotum - over many years (since 2004 in the case of SLT) they laughably stated this in a press release:

"The Council’s aspiration to move towards a zero subsidy to run its portfolio of facilities simply could not be met or jointly agreed through the business planning negotiations [with SLT]”.

There is as much chance of us taxpayers not having to subsidise these places as there is of Dim Kez telling the truth about The Cox Review! This is particularly so at present noting soaring energy costs thanks to the horrific Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Labour Cllr Danny Millard bizarrely stated that "this was not a position we expected to be in" - which is entirely bogus noting that Labour shafted SLT in the first place.

These morons actually think they can make money out of their, er, heavily-subsidised portfolio and decided to set up a "local authority trading company" (LATC). The Council would own the shares but, otherwise, it would operate like any other company. I pointed out in a previous post that Piper, Dim Kez and Co had not thought this through. Firstly, the Company would have to prepare reports and accounts in the usual way, and so it will be more difficult for Labour to hide the losses they would inevitably make. Secondly, there will be less opportunity to poke their noses in and micro-manage the separate business than there is with the craven SLT "charity". Thirdly, in the unlikely event the Company did make a profit it would be subject to our current high rate of Corporation Tax - which a Charity does not usually have to pay.

Having made these disastrous decisions, bent Labour actually appeared to do something right for a change. They brought in an expert to run the LATC, a Mr Mark Braithwaite, who appears to have a good track record in the leisure industry. The comrades trumpeted:

Foul-mouthed Labour Cllr Laura Rollins, who has sensibly moved out of the Borough so as not to have to live with local scum, professed herself delighted at the appointment. There are rumours - and I put it no higher - that Mr Braithwaite was to be paid around £100,000 a year.

But now these corrupt and incompetent Labour buffoons have changed their minds again. There is not to be a LTC (at least for the foreseeable) and the leisure centres (including The Scrotum) are to be operated by, er, SLT after all. How distressing for the SLT employees for Labour to have put them through all this uncertainty! Once again there appears to be total silence from the Tories (unless something is going on behind the scenes) on this astonishing volte face just months after bent Labour fired SLT. And because there is no apparent scrutiny from the Conservative Group it is difficult to know what is really going on although it is noteworthy that SLT has appointed a raft of new trustees in May and June.

Bateman is still there despite what has gone on, but she is joined by newbies Melanie Briggs, Neil King, Harry Turner, Adrian Phillips and Tracy Pearce* (with a handful of existing trustees staying on). It is not (yet) known if these newbies are Labour stooges (though see below) but neither the Council's own records nor the Charity Commission/Companies House documents show any current Sandwell Labour Councillors being appointed! This might have indicated that SLT were finally taking their allegedly "independent" charitable status seriously and that they had "grown a pair" but, seemingly, this is not the case as we shall see. The SLT website is silent of the Trust's new (old) role!

[* Addendum 24/06/23 - Pearce is a former employ of Sandwell Council!]

This re-marriage has left Mr Braithwaite as the spare pr*ck at the (shotgun) wedding. So has he been paid off? No, and here is the absurd exchange I have had with SLT following a formal press enquiry:

There are two things to note here. Firstly, although I wrote to the supposedly independent SLT they had to seek "orders" from the bent Labour Council despite Braithwaite technically being their employee. This once again appears to indicate that the charitable status of SLT is simply a front for control of their operations via SMBC. Secondly, and perhaps I am reading too much into it but, to me, this reads as if no-one has a scooby what to do with Mr Braithwaite and that policy is being made up as they go along.

Of course, dear readers, I followed up with the obvious supplementary question and got this response:

This is truly shocking. Bent Labour have effed the whole thing up but are now forcing the "Charity" to pay Mr Braithwaites's high wages! I am, of course, writing to the Charity Commissioners about this, but how could Bateman and the trustees agree to this? How is it furthering the charitable objects of SLT to have this expensive guy on board? What happened to the previous guy who was running SLT? Has he been made redundant and of so was this legit if the position still exists? What job is Mr B actually supposed to be doing? Is he a trojan horse for the comrades to get the inside track on SLT and shaft them again?

We need the SLT trustees to come clean here - since bent SMBC won't - and to assert their independence! We also need some proper scrutiny on this from within the Council.

[PS does anyone know of any alleged Health and Safety issues concerning The Scrotum?]

Spot the Difference!

It is an unfortunate fact that Sandwell folk are thicker than their counterparts elsewhere and this has been displayed once again by a number of local morons attacking hardworking West Bromwich West MP, Shaun Bailey, in respect of the latest revelations about Tory lockdown parties. There is one small problem with this. Local dullards have got the WRONG Shaun Bailey!

Clue: The local MP is the guy with the hair ...

This might be a timely moment to remember the Covid rules breach by a large number of gentlemen - many Labour Councillors - who piled into a Birmingham restaurant heedless of the restrictions then in force. Five of them were (then) Sandwell Labour Councillors. This matter was reported the very next day to West Midlands Police who took no action whatsoever. One rule for one as they say ...

Sneaky Labour

In a recent post I put up this image from Sandwell Corruption showing Labour's deceit:

Bent Labour were trying to pull the wool over the eyes of local morons and now local Conservative MP Nicola Richards has caught these sneaks at it again on parking charges:

What's The Turd of Sandwell Wearing Here?

I predicted recently that the new Turd of Sandwell, Mayor Bent? (as in Corrupt?) Billy Gavan, would soon (metaphorically) defecate on his ceremonial regalia. He is still refusing to comment on the alleged £5,000 donation to Labour and so we will have to assume that WAS a bent deal until further information otherwise.

This grotesque guy recently attended a £100-a-head fundraiser at the Hawthorns for the right-wing of the Labour Party. Watson's latest puppet, WBE candidate Sarah Coombes, was there as were the leaders of Sandwell political Sikhism, Pam Randhawa and Gurinder Josan, plus the greasy Bookie's runner, John Spellar MP. This was a purely political function and not in any way a civic one yet here's a picture of The Turd appearing to wear the Mayoral insignia? What ya up to Billy Boy?

I am told that Bent? Billy was due to open The Orchard Coffee Bar in Wednesbury the other day but the owner had to temporarily shut up due to family issues. Quite why a local business would want a serial business failure like The Turd (aka Alka Seltzer because he has been involved with so many dissolved companies) open his shop is wholly beyond me.

Interestingly Labour First, which organised the flash dinner event, didn't give much of a discount for tables of ten lol:

Another point of interest is that although this was a political fundraiser a number of people from Let's Dance Again turned up. LDA is, of course, the bastard child of the infamous "Wednesbury Celebrates" run partly by former Councillor and liar extraordinaire, Inane Elaine Costigan. That piece of work used Wednesbury Town Hall for the former organisation without bothering to actually pay any rent (Skidders passim and see legal notice below). Since the supposedly "public organisation" folded she has steadfastly refused to say what happened to its remaining money.

To facilitate Costigan and her pals SMBC decided that, for the most part, community organisations could use Wednesbury Town Hall for free. Costigan and others set up LDA and now boast that they have taken over the balcony for their use and also hold regular events there. If Costigan repeats the previous trick, LDA will also be trying to screw the taxpayer for funds via the bent Council.

The difference this time is that LDA has recently registered as a "charitable incorporated organisation" (CIO) with the Charity Commission - the trustees being Costigan "lol", Deborah Price and Maxine Hipkiss. This means that they will eventually have to file an annual return and accounts which will be publicly available. What is surprising, therefore, is that the Trustees and at leat one other LDA person turned up at the Labour fundraiser (if you exclude the cynical view that they hope to screw money out of Sandwell Labour Councillors). Costigan, Price, Hipkiss and someone called "Jo" turned up - ostensibly paying £100 a ticket. No doubt they paid this out of the personal money since it would clearly have been wholly inappropriate to use the CIO's money for such a purpose. I am sure they will hasten to confirm the position so that I do not need to alert the Charity Commission about them too!

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

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PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

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