LIB DEMS ON TRIAL: " YOU CAN FOOL SOME OF THE PEOPLE, SOME OF THE TIME, BUT ...... (or, WHAT THE PAPERS SAY)

The following is a comment made by one of our loyal readers.

We think it deserves a higher profile.

"Well, having read the accounts in the papers, not only is it a sad and sorry account of Liverpool politics it is a sad and sorry account of the slanted reporting of the Liverpool/Oldham Echo.

The Post Article covers mainly the facts of the case and the reaction of other local politicians.

It states that Hurst has instructed his legal team to launch an appeal against the conviction etc.

Whereas our Lib Dem a*se licking Echo, passes quickly over the guilty verdict and reprehensible actions and then gives over half of their coverage to presenting Hurst as the victim.

They even put up a photgraph captioned “STRAIN Cllr Hurst says he will appeal”.

They cite the “horrendous strain” he has endured (since getting caught methinks).

But incredibly, well not for the Echo, I suppose, we then have almost half of the article quoting Bradley, his local party leader, personal friend and fellow firefighter.

Bradley tells us, “anyone who knows Steve (Hurst) from work, life or politics knows he is a really decent guy who does not deserve this.”

I would assume the Walton’s know him, given that the real victims of this will know him from work life and politics also.

I don’t think they will share that view.

Then they further quote Bradley: “There is a concerted smear campaign against him which has been a waste of public money.”

(Well he knows all about wasting public money.)

What the hell is the fool talking about?

Is he accusing the Walton’s of launching a smear campaign against Hurst?

Who has used public money to carry this out?

The only public money involved is related to the court prosecution in which he was found guilty.

Is it the police or the courts and the judge that have carried out the campaign?

Perhaps so, since Bradley continues: “You have to start questioning the judicial system, considering he was found guilty on circumstantial evidence.”

Very serious accusations Mr Bradley.

I hope you have more than circumstantial evidence to back them up.

So what was the evidence against Hurst that left the sentencing Judge in believing, beyond all doubt, in his guilt?

He had copies of the smear leaflet, he admitted this, claimed he was collecting them to take back to Lib Dem HQ.

He was identified by one of the people in whose letterbox he posted it, wearing his baseball cap and dark glasses, (in the evening).

It spoke of being a scab firefighter, he is also a firefighter.

It mentioned the Lee Park golf club, of which he is a member.

It spoke of leaving council meetings early, he is a councillor.

His constituency is Wavertree, what was he doing out leafleting alone miles away in BelleVale in the evening?

How many other constituencies did he go out alone in order to leaflet?

Well let’s look at the character witnesses...

Storey, already disgraced and forced to resign following the standards board investigation over the Henshaw affair, but brought straight back in by Bradley to a senior position to the disgust of many.

And Bradley himself.

The man awaiting findings from the standards board also as to whether he is fit for public office or has broken the code of standards of behaviour for Councillors.

A man who was exposed as a liar in the Daily Post claiming he never had a secret meeting with the person he allowed to be the fall-guy over Mathew Street.

Claimed he had not had communications nor sent texts trying to set up the meeting he never had, until presented with copies of the emails/texts.

And finally admitting that he did send them and that a meeting took place.

In his, not a dry eye in the house, speech to council he informed them that he had lodged a grievance with the Press Complaints Commission.

Another lie - it appears since it was later confirmed that no such complaint had been received. Well,you only need go back through these pages for any more.

So this is the man who is standing up in court asking us all to believe in the honesty, integrity and decency of Cllr Hurst.

Not worth a carrot!!

One other interesting point.

Going back to the waste of public money issue.

I suspect the real strain for Hurst is losing the additional £13,300 he got for serving on the Executive Board and the worry that if he had to resign his seat as a councillor that he would also lose the additional £9,900 for that.

All of which is of course on top of his fire fighter salary.

In court his wife tearfully spoke about their plans to emigrate to Australia on his retirement.

Well for one thing, what the hell is he doing running Liverpool and making decisions about it’s future when the first chance he gets he is off to live on the other side of the world.

It is bad timing really.

If this had been a good while ago, he could have been sent there for free courtesy of her Majesty.

So let’s keep an eye out for Bradley’s campaign to change the Justice system.

He may need to do this pretty soon.

They have got away with so much that they are now shocked that they are not actually above the law and just cannot accept being exposed and found out.

Despicable."

WELCOME TO LIVERPOOL ONE - Made by Mancs, Geordies, Cockneys, Poles....anyone but Scousers!

CLEIN'S VERDICT ON FIREMAN BRADLEY AND THE STOREYTELLER: 'CRASS....... STALINIST.......INTOLERABLE.....DISGRACEFUL......SMALL CLIQUE IN POWER...."

WE can now bring you (highlighted below) the full text of Education boss Paul Clein's resignation letter, thanks to the Liverpool Confidential web site.
His devastating letter echoes many of the accusations against Fireman Bradley and the Storeyteller which the Liverpool SubCulture blog has been alone in publicising over the last 16 months.
You never read any of this in the Echo before did you? Or on Radio Merseyside?
That's no surprise.
We now feel vindicated. We told you so. We have been right all along.
But no-one should forget what has caused both Clein's resignation and Firth's deselection - the debacle over Mathew Street.
Bradley and Storey and Harbarrow and Hilton all ducked responsibility for the biggest PR disaster in Liverpool's recent history.
Instead they sought to put the blame on little Lee Forde's shoulders.
And the Echo, Radio Merseyside, Radio City and the rest of the cowardly media - with one or two notable exceptions - were willing accomplices in that shocking miscarriage of justice.
They failed to hold those responsible properly to account.
They failed to carry out their duty as guardians of the public interest and the public purse.
They failed to examine in any detail all of the circumstances leading up to the Mathew Street fiasco.
So you will well understand why the Liverpool subCulture blog won't be taking any lectures from the media.
Lee Forde has been entirely vindicated by Clein's resignation and Firth's de-selection.
We hope it is some comfort to him for the way the city council tried to destroy his reputation and his career.
Now it is for the people of Liverpool to make the real judgment on the way their city has been run by this complete shower of bastards.

Clein's letter (and some choice extracts):

"I have been considering my position since late November 2007......" (publication of doctored Mathew Street report)

"I went along with a number of policies about which I had misgivings......"

"I feared right from the start when Storey was handed a specially created Cabinet position.....that the fallout from the Henshaw/Storey split would become self-perpetuating....that appointment by Warren was a crass decision...."

"Stalinist treatment of Firth.....intolerable and utterly illiberal.......engineered for having the audacity to ask the Group Leader entirely legitimate questions over a matter (Mathew St) whose fallout threatens the long-term interests of our group. (Where is Warren's promised writ to the Daily Post by the way? I think we should be told.)

"The colleagues who perpetrated this should hang their heads in shame. They have betrayed basic principles....disgraceful episode.....my position is untenable....."

"A small, increasingly illiberal clique in positions of power........whose main focus seems.......obsessive revenge."

PS. Notice how Clein focuses on Bradley's empty threats to take the Daily Post to the Press Complaints Commission? The Post - one of the few notable exceptions - had the audacity to accurately report Bradley's lies over Lee Forde and Mathew Street and his Perroni Plot with the Storeyteller against the Harbarrowboy. Bradley has not issued a writ against the Post. And he won't be issuing a writ against the Post. Because he lied to them. That's the Leader of the great city of Liverpool, for you.

WHY LEE FORDE QUIT THE CULTURE COMPANY...

EVENTS MANAGER Lee Forde quit the Culture Company because the Mathew Street budget had been slashed - threatening public safety.

The Harbarrowboy unilaterally halved the amount of money being spent on events such as Mathew Street, the Hub Festival, the Lord Mayor's Parade and the Christmas Lights switch-on.

Harbarrowboy was under pressure from Cover Up to reduce the amount of public money being used by the Culture Company after squandering millions on consultants, astonomical wages and pie in the sky schemes.

He was told to reign-in the Culture Company's mounting expenditure in the run-up to 2008.

But he also personally decided to save up some money for next year's events so that 2008 would not turn into the damp squib we have all feared.

Jase planned to splurge it all on public events next year so that he could go out in a blaze of "glory" having delivered an apparently successful Capital of Culture.

Forde expressed his concern at the implications of the sweeping cuts and refused to keep quiet. (Good for him, eds)

He warned the Harbarrowboy that such draconian cuts would put public safety at risk and contravene strict health and safety regulations.

But the Harbarrowboy told Forde: "I don't want any discussion about this - just get on with it."

Forde then submitted his resignation in disgust, telling the Harbarrowboy that it was impossible to deliver such events without compromising public safety.

The Culture Company tried to put a brave face on his shock departure, 'Jase' arrogantly telling the BBC in an interview that no-one was indispensable and that they would carry on as normal.

In fact, the opposite was true. (see TP's previous post about Forde's departure for an entirely accurate account of the likely impact, eds)

Forde's departure meant little work was done on Mathew Street, which was left to his deputy Eddy Grant to try and pick up.

The £150,000-a-year Harbarrowboy failed to adequately manage the resultant gap and then eventually decided to cancel a festival which was not even his to cancel.

The result?

Uproar.

Forde is now the victim of a disgraceful and all too typical attempt by the city council and the Culture Company to shoulder all the blame for the fiasco.

The Echo was told (apparently by Bradley) that Ford was on "gardening leave" - a sickening and disgusting attempt to smear him.

His deputy Grant is now on long term sickness absence, as a result of the mounting pressures he was put under.

This effectively means the Culture Company has lost its senior Events chiefs at a stroke - an amazing 'achievement'. This is likely to have further implications on events in the city.

One Culture Company insider said:" Lee has never been a 'yes' man and when Jason told him to implement the cuts, he couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"He refused to put up with the incompetence. And no-one took control of the situation or did anything significant about it. It's a classic case of management failure."

Meanwhile, we can also reveal that the Harbarrowboy has been sent on 'gardening leave'. Cover Up told him to go and take a week off while the dust settled over the Mathew Street debacle.

He is due to return to the Fun Palace tomorrow (Tuesday) - but is unlikely to get a quiet reception.

(All will soon be revealed....eds)

JOE ANDERSON QUITS CULTURE - A MAN OF PRINCIPLE AND INTEGRITY

LABOUR leader Joe Anderson has resigned from Capital of Culture in disgust at its failures.

We agree with everything that Councillor Anderson says - which is why we are reproducing his entire statement from today's Daily Post...



CITY Labour chief Joe Anderson today walked away from his Capital of Culture role and accused the festival board of failing to deliver on its promises.
In a hard-hitting attack he said the Culture Board and the Culture Company were:
FAILING to engage communities and “real” people.
FAILING to provide a 2008 events programme that excited people.
FAILING to provide a worthwhile legacy for the city and missing the chance to kick-start creative industries.
He lashed the city council for “mismanaging” the 08 funding equation and leaving Liverpool £20m short.
Cllr Anderson vowed to fight on from his position as Opposition Group leader in an effort to ensure the city delivered the best-possible Capital of Culture.
He said: “Wherever I go I have community groups say that they don’t feel part of Capital of Culture.
“People are constantly complaining about over emphasis on city- centre investment and when you visit parts of Speke and see the dereliction there it really hits home.
“I’ve been going round mounting a robust defence of Capital of Culture but my heart hasn’t been in it.”
Cllr Anderson claimed 08 had moved away dramatically from the promises within the bid document that persuaded the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to award Liverpool the Culture accolade in 2003.
He said: “I met the judges – Jeremy Isaacs, Tessa Sanderson – and told them all about the communities and our bid’s aspirations for them.
“But these aspirations simply haven’t been met.”
And Cllr Anderson – born in the city centre just yards from the Paradise Street development – also refused to acknowledge that the so-called “2008 effect” had played a massive part in the city’s fast-paced economic renaissance.
He said: “It’s a myth. The renaissance is real but it was begun by European Objective One funding and maintained by government grants.
“Don’t forget that when the bid document was launched the Grosvenor shopping development was already in the bag as was development of the King’s Dock. Renaissance was kicking in anyway.”
Cllr Anderson also claimed arts organisations and creative companies have been betrayed by the way 08 has been developed and have suffered from lack of involvement and no worthwhile legacy.
He pointed to Liverpool’s literary legends Alan Bleasdale and Willy Russell as people who should have been consulted and utilised, perhaps in the creation of theatre schools to develop young talent post-2008.
He said: “I ask myself what the legacy benefits will be and I can’t really answer that question. The Tall Ships coming back again? A bigger Mathew Street Festival?
“There is no cultural legacy – only lack of involvement and lack of vision.”
It was an open secret in political circles that Cllr Anderson was struggling to reconcile his role on a cross- party and public-private sector board with his position as the city’s premier voice of opposition to the ruling Lib Dem Group which controls culture activity.
He now believes he can work more effectively “unfettered” by collective responsibility.
He added: “I’m now free to make whatever comments I deem constructive – sometimes positive, sometimes critical.
“I’ve felt for months that talking to some members of the culture board is like banging your head on a brick wall.
“Everything is met by defensiveness or accusations of negativity.”
Cllr Anderson said he believed the culture board was guilty of building up unreasonable expectations about the festival from the word go.
He said: “This festival will not be the wealth-creating, job-creating panacea for all the city’s ailments that it was cracked up to be.
“There is still time to provide people with the opportunity to take part and also to give the cultural sector better opportunities to participate.
“And if there’s one good thing to emerge from all the money that’s been spent it’s that the city has got a re-branding. It might be money well spent. We now need to have confidence in what the city has to offer.”
Cllr Anderson said he would continue “with passion” to promote the city in a positive way.
“This isn’t about party politics. It’s about me as a person and a Liverpudlian. And about a city with a legacy of debt.”

Joe Anderson on .....

... ROBYN ARCHER

WHEN she was brought in everybody thought WHO?
But it was the Emperor’s New Clothes and no-one said much. Then we hardly saw her for 12 months – even though we were paying her. She then comes up with a programme and that’s when I came up with my remark that the only Aussie she hadn’t signed was Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. David Henshaw and Mike Storey brought her halfway across the world but she knew so little about Liverpool. She quits and we’re a laughing stock, giving her a huge pay-off while community groups are getting knocked back for £2,000.

... THE 2008 PROGRAMME

I’M not convinced there’s really anything outstanding in there.
There’s nothing that jumps out – no wow factor, no big theme. I’m terrified the 2008 opening ceremony is going to be all about B-list celebrities. And as for 2007 we’re already halfway through it and I don’t detect any great birthday excitement.

... 08 BOARD MEMBERS

PHIL Redmond and Roger Phillips were a breath of fresh air and I wish we had a few more like them. They are not controversial but they speak as they see it and as people in the street see it.
There should definitely be a broader mix of people on the board. In four-and-a-half years we haven’t achieved much.

... THE FUNDING DILEMMA

THE council has failed to prepare a war chest since COC was awarded in 2004. The Government has supplied more than the £10m requested by the city council in the Bid Document. Hoping that the Government would bail out the city if it let the problem fester until the last minute was a high-risk strategy.
The council should have been honest with the people and said “Look, this is what Cultural Year will cost and we will have to save for it between 2003 and 2008”.

... COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

VISITORS might like 2008 but I don’t think residents will.
Go to Dingle, Everton, Speke and you’ll find people who’ve come up with ideas but they are frustrated at getting neither financial nor physical support. It’s a failure that we haven’t encouraged them to participate.

POLICE QUIZ LIB DEM CHIEF WHIP OVER ELECTION 'DIRTY TRICKS'

POLICE have questioned a senior Lib Dem under caution over allegations that he was at the centre of local election 'dirty tricks.'
It's claimed that Lib Dem chief whip Councillor Steve Hurst was caught delivering a fake leaflet to voters in Belle Vale ward.
Hurst, a fireman, was caught in the act of posting a leaflet through letterboxes purporting to be from 'a real socialist party - TUSP', it is alleged.
When confronted by angry residents, there was a doorstep dust-up during which, it's claimed, Hurst assaulted a member of the public as he tried to escape.
It is also believed that one resident had used his mobile phone to photograph Hurst in the act of delivering the bogus leaflets.
In the fracas that followed, Hurst also dropped his filofax, containing his name and address details, before finally scarpering.
There may also be complaints that Hurst caused criminal damage to private property during the confrontation.
A string of official complaints about Hurst's actions have now been made to city council chief executive Colin 'Cover Up', Chief Constable Bernard Hogan-Howe and the Chief Fire Officer, Tony McGurk who has already promised to dismiss any staff guilty of intimidation.
Hurst's nasty leaflet was a clumsy and crude attempt to try and blacken the name of local Labour councillor Pauline Walton, whose husband is also a fireman.
The Lib Dems were clearly panicking that they could not win the seat and decided to step into the gutter.
The leaflet broke election law by carrying no imprint giving the name and address of the organisation which had printed and published it. (What has Cover Up done about that, then? ed)
It was obviously hoped that using the disgusting leaflet to spread lies about Councillor Walton and her husband would damage Labour's vote in the ward.
In the event, the voters of Belle Vale had the good sense instead to elect Labour candidate Janet Kent to join Councillor Walton.
But now Councillor Hurst, who as Lib Dem chief whip is responsible for internal group discipline (you couldn't make this stuff up, could you? ed) faces some serious questions.

Police interviewed Hurst under caution earlier this week and are expected to send a file to the Crown Prosecution Service to decide if he should be prosecuted.

Cover Up and Mr McGurk could also take action.

But we doubt whether the Leader of the Council, Councillor Warren Bradley, who is also a fireman and a close friend of Councillor Hurst, will condemn these election dirty tricks and suspend him. (Although he should, ed)

LUXURY YACHT COST £25,000 DURING £265,000 CANNES TRIP

HIRING a millionaire's yacht in Cannes for Colin Cover Up and Fireman Bradley cost council taxpayers £25,000, a Freedom of Information answer has revealed.

They were both able to relax and sunbathe on the luxurious boat which was used for breakfasts, lunches and a string of informal drinks receptions.

And the staggering total bill for Liverpool's week long jaunt to the south of France was at least £265,000.

If you think extremely hard and can come up with slightly better ways to spend public money - (ie, cutting crime, repairing houses, cleaning the streets, improving the schools, extending care, ed) - please do not hesitate to tell us.

The Freedom of Information answer reveals that it cost the city council £10,000 alone in accomodation and flights to send a footie team of council bureaucrats to Cannes for the jaunt last month.

These included Cover Up (also now known in council circles as 'safe hands', ed), Bradley, new Regeneration chief John Kelly and Culture Company Marketing chief Kris 'bullshitter' Donaldson.

Their out of pocket expenses bill for taxis, a round of orange juices, entertaining, dancing girls and boys, etc - (all those receptions, ed) - has not been provided by the council.

In addition, the city council, which is £29million in the red at the moment, coughed up another £50,000 out of its depleted coffers for the MIPIM week.

More public money swelled the total bill to an astonishing £265,000 - Liverpool Land Development Company and Liverpool Vision both chipped in £25,000 each and The Mersey Partnership coughed up a paltry £15,000.

All of these organisations are, of course, funded by city council taxpayers.

So the people of Anfield, Kensington, Picton, Croxteth, Everton, Speke, Garston, Norris Green, Dingle, Toxteth, etc, etc, have paid twice over for Bradley, Cover Up and Co to swan about on a yacht for a week.

Big Business in Liverpool contributed £150,000.

Unfortunately, no Freedom of Information answer will tell us what benefit MIPIM has brought to the city of Liverpool, how many jobs it has created for Liverpool people, how many extra training places it has provided for Liverpool's young people, or how much extra investment it has attracted to Liverpool.

BECAUSE NO ONE KNOWS...

GUESS HOW MUCH CAPITAL OF CULTURE IS GOING TO COST YOU....??????

£400!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, that's the bill for every household and business in the city to plug the £29million black hole in the council's budget.

So how can this be? Didn't the city council promise that there would be no extra cost to Liverpool's council tax payers when it first drew up the bid for Culture?

Well, yes, it did. But things have changed now apparently. Through a spectacular mixture of sheer incompetence, obscene profligacy and rank arrogance the city council has contrived to find itself £29million short of balancing its books.

The lion's share of this - £22million - is for Culture, which is currently spending money on 'who knows what' like it is going out of fashion. The city council needs another £7million just to maintain the existing level of poor quality council services. Total = £29million.

The solution offered by the smiling assassin Hasitall (Phil Halsall, £169,000 a year Executive Director for Finance for those who don't know, ed) whose stewardship of the council's finances is may conceivably be to blame, is to beg, steal or borrow the necessary spondulicks from elsewhere. Any suggestion that, as the responsible officer, he had been criminally irresponsible with the city's finances would be criminally irresponsible, of course.

The council can either beg the Government for more dosh (and get lost, ed), it can steal the money from council taxpayers (already done that several times, ed) or it can borrow.

So it will do a combination of Options 2 and 3, while Warren 'I'm just a fireman' Bradley indulges in the distraction of the usual Lib Dem knockabout stuff aimed at the Government.

Meanwhile the city council will re-mortgage buildings like Millennium House (used to be known as Jase's Fun Palace, ed) and take out some more mind-boggling loans.

Either way, the result will be very clear.

Capital of Culture will leave a post-2008 legacy for the people of Liverpool of a huge new £29million debt. That works out at £400 for every home and business in the city. So we will all be in hock.

And all the time, the consultants and the highly paid Executives will have been happily lining their own pockets, thank you very much. And producing nothing very impressive for 2008 in return.

All of which puts McElhinney's Liverpool Direct scandal, Henshaw's bumper pension pay-off, the jobs for the boys, the £3million Summer Pops fiasco, the astronomical salaries, the foreign trips, the criminal pay-offs, the consultants fees, the freeloading, the waste and the neglect all in a bit more perspective doesnt it?

THE VENERABLE ALAN CHURCHMAN ASKS SOME SEARCHING QUESTIONS OF CHAS 'SHOW ME THE MONEY' COLE REGARDING THE SUMMER POPS....

Dear Mr Cole,
As a Liverpool Council Tax payer I would be interested to hear your justification as to why my taxes should be used to subsidise your commercial activity within the Borough of Sefton.
I would also like to know why it was suddenly possible for your company to deliver its Summer Pops programme at a fraction of its previous cost (and presumably a fraction of the cost proposed in your original tender).
Like many people I view the recent tendering process as highly unsatisfactory and far from transparent.
The cancellation and subsequent rescue of the programme suggests careful choreography and the appearance of a rather interesting email on a celebrated Liverpool "blog" site (he means us, ed) only reinforces my sense of deep unease.
Do you believe it is appropriate for a commercial company tendering for a public contract to be communicating in this manner with the elected leader of the City Council?
Is this the way that you normally conduct business and do you believe this to be proper and transparent?
At what stage where you informed about the availability of public funds from The City Council and Culture Company to subsidise your proposal?
Who confirmed the availability of this money and on what authority?
At what stage did you enter into discussion with Aintree Race Course about the availability of this alternative venue?
Was this before or after the "decision" to cancel the 2007 Summer Pops programme?
Is there any truth to the assertion made on the Liverpool subculture website (hurrah! that's us, ed) that your press release to Radio Merseyside re the cancellation of the Pops was received prior to the posting of the Executive Board agenda on the Council website?
If this is true, how were you able to quote from this report?
Who disclosed its content and why?
How and when were the City Council first made aware of the details of your rescue proposal? Which officers did you communicate with and what was your understanding of the status of these discussions within the context of a tendering process involving two other companies?
Your email to Cllr Bradley talks about the opportunity to "run a positive story" in the Echo.
Had the groundwork for this story already been prepared and does this not suggest that you and they were prejudging a decision that had not yet been taken?
Did either Cllr Bradley or Mr Hilton reply to your email, and was the timing of the subsequent appointment meeting influenced by your communication?
If you had been one of the other potential operators would you regard your behaviour as proper and the process as fair?
You may well believe that you are under no obligation to answer these questions about your personal business activity.
However, you have been the beneficiary of very large amounts of public money and have recently been awarded a major public contract under circumstances that are at the very least unconventional.
I therefore trust that you will be more than happy to clarify these matters and put the mind of at least one local Council Tax payer at rest.
Yours sincerely,
Alan K. Churchman.

AND THIS IS CHAS' SHOW ME THE MONEY' COLE'S BAD TEMPERED RESPONSE.

HE CAN'T EVEN SPELL THE VENERABLE ALAN'S NAME CORRECTLY....

From: Chas Cole chascole@cmplive.com

To: Alan Curchman alanchurchman@yahoo.co.uk

Subject: my council tax and related matters

Sent: 21 February 2007 15:32:55

Dear Mr Curchman,

My response to your email is as follows:

1. I do not know you and would like to know how you obtained my email address.

2. You have provided no address or contact details other than your email. Email can be used as a cloak to protect anonymity. Please provide your full address, landline telephone number and mobile phone number. (He didn't like it when we used his mobile number tho, did he folks? ed)

3. The questions you have raised, which have the hallmark’s of questions being posed by a journalist, (surely not, ed) are not questions I would answer when asked by somebody anonymously. The provision of your name without full contact details is not sufficient.

4. If you are genuine, and have no reason to hide, please provide the requested information by return. If you refuse to provide such information you clearly have no real concern about the matters you raise.

I welcome an opportunity to discuss these issues face-to-face.

Regards

Chas Cole

CMP Entertainment - Music & Sport

08 Place

36-38 Whitechapel

Liverpool

Merseyside

England

L1 6DZTel +44 (0) 151 708 6050Fax +44 (0) 151 707 0400

E-mail chascole@cmplive.com

http://www.cmplive.com

EDITOR'S NOTE: I THINK THIS POST COULD BE THE START OF SOMETHING TRULY SACRED AND SPIRITUAL - THE BLOG NOW HAS GOD ON OUR SIDE!

REVEALED: The secret email from millionaire pop promoter, Chas Cole to council leader Warren Bradley, which secured the Summer Pops.

BELOW IS A VERBATIM TRANSCRIPT OF AN EMAIL FROM CHAS COLE TO WARREN BRADLEY AND COLIN HILTON. THIS IS NOT A HOAX. WE REPRODUCE THE EMAIL HERE IN FULL, BECAUSE WE BELIEVE IT IS IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST AND HAS GRAVE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CITY OF LIVERPOOL. THE DAY AFTER THIS EMAIL WAS SENT, THE CITY COUNCIL SUDDENLY ANNOUNCED THAT THE SUMMER POPS WAS GOING TO MR COLE.

---------Original Message------------------------
From: Chas Cole
To: Bradley, Warren (Leader of the City Council)
Cc: Hilton, Colin (Chief Executive)
Sent: Thu Feb 15 12:27:00 2007
Subject: Summer Pops 2007

Dear Warren

I am coming under increasing pressure from the Liverpool Echo to go public on the planned rescue of the Summer Pops. They confirmed some days ago their commitment to provide a value in kind contribution and they are aware that I am waiting for the Council and the Capital of Culture's commitment to provide 100K sponsorship for the event.

I had hoped that you would have been able to provide a confirmation by now, so that it could be announced this week.

Time is running out, another week passes by and the agents/acts are making their final plans for summer tours and, frankly, I fear they are losing patience with Liverpool.

In an ideal world, you would be able to provide the requested commitment and a positive quote by mid afternoon today. This would allow me to confirm with acts during the rest of today and tomorrow that Liverpool is back in the game for this summer.

In addition, we can run a positive joint story in tomorrow's Echo of how yourself, the Council and the Echo have saved the event.

If you are not able to provide the confirmation, it will be helpful to at least have a telephone conversation to gain an understanding of the decision making process and timescale.

Please give me a call on my mobile (deleted at the author's request, ed)

Kind Regards.

Chas


Chas Cole

--------------------------------------------------------------------

THE ON/OFF SUMMER POPS IS BACK ON - BUT NOT IN LIVERPOOL!

WHAT A SHAMBLES!

Chas 'show me the money' Cole has ridden to the rescue and is bringing the Summer Pops back this year - but to Aintree racecourse!

The council taxpayers of Liverpool will now be paying £100,000 for an event which will be held outside the city's boundaries in Sefton.

(Isn't it illegal for the council taxpayers of one local authority to subsidise events outside its own boundaries? ed)

All the claims that Liverpool's economy benefits from the Pops now fall at the first fence. Concert goers will simply drive to Aintree, watch the gig, and get in the car or coach home.

Result: virtually zero benefit to Liverpool's economy, bars, clubs and hotels.

Millionaire Cole's CMP Entertainment, which has taken more than £3million from council taxpayers so far, is taking another £50 grand from the city council and £50 grand from the Culture Company to stage the slimmed down event this year.

The event will be held this summer in a new equestrian centre at Aintree which, amazingly, has still not been built and which has no other customers. ( Groooaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnn, ed)

But what this sorry little saga demonstrates most of all is how completely shambolic the city council now is.

First the Pops was on, then it was off, now it's back on again.

But not in Liverpool!

Who exactly is supposed to be in charge and what do they think they are doing?

As we have said before (about the Culture Company,ed) they couldn't run a piss-up in a brewery.

What has been the tender process that has been observed in this process, which is costing us the city £100,000?

What other tenders have been received?

Where was the tender process advertised?

And what role did elected members have in choosing the successfull contractor?

You have been well and truly stuffed again, Councillor Bradley, haven't you?

Outwitted at every turn.

Convenient that Chas finally got it, isn't it?

And what role has the smiling assassin Halsall had in all this?

WHAT A SHAMBLES!

ON SECOND THOUGHTS...WE DO HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THE AXING OF THE SUMMER POPS

SMILING ASSASSIN STRIKES AGAIN

Two media matters have come to our attention about the city council's decision to scrap the Summer Pops:

Media Matter No 1)
At 3pm yesterday, two hours before the city council officially announced it was axing the Summer Pops, a press release fluttered onto the desk of news outlets in the city.
The press release sensationally broke the exclusive news to stunned journalists that the Summer Pops would not be taking place this year.
Who was this well-informed media missive from you may well ask? (good question, ed.)
Step forward Chas Cole, millionaire boss of CMP Entertainment and one-time marathon runner.
Chas 'show me the money' Cole, you will recall, is the man who has so far cost the city council more than £3million of council taxpayers money to subsidise the Pops.
Yes it was Chas, dear reader, who managed to break this exclusive story first.
But who tipped him off?
As CMP were just one of three private companies who were all bidding for the Pops, Chas should have had no inside and exclusive track on the news of the council's decision.
The finger points at Phil Halsall, aka the smiling assassin, and the father of young Liam (whose band 'Abe' appeared as support to Status Quo at the Summer Pops in 2005 and then promptly disappeared back into obscurity, you will remember, ed).
The highly paid Executive Director Halsall, (you will be well aware of this too, ed) is the man who is single-handedly responsible for the city's finances, which this year have ended up in a £50million cuts crisis.
And Halsall it was, of course, who signed the cheques for the last six years to pay his mate Chas for the Summer Pops.
Media Matter No2)
James Barton of Cream was appearing today on Radio Merseyside to talk about the Pops and ways in which Cream might still work with the city council to save the event this year.
But before he arrived an email suddenly appeared at the Radio Merseyside news desk.
And this media missive, marked NOT FOR PUBLICATION systematically, and highly selectively, rubbished Cream's tender proposal.
It revealed all kinds of highly confidential details about the Cream tender in a highly selective, prejudiced and partial manner.
Radio Merseyside was given permission to use part of this email as unattributable 'background' information.
(This means they could use the information in their report, but not say where it came from, ed)
Who was this media missive from? you may ask (another good question, ed)
Step forward the city council's newscentre.
For, astonishingly, the email was sent by an un-named press officer.
But who put the press officer up to it?
(As we know, they don't do things without being instructed to do so, ed)
And why did the council issue this wholly irregular email which, as well as being inaccurate, also broke all council rules of commercial confidentiality.
Just who authorised this flagrant breach of all council rules and procedures? (a terrifically good question, ed)
The finger points at the smiling assassin, Mr Phil Halsall, again. (Also now known as 'the weasel' as in Pop goes, geddit? ed)
Of course it could also have been some other council employee. Perhaps Dr McElhinney then?

An observer writes: Both these incidents reveal just how fundamentally corrupt the city council now is. Highly placed officials can give the inside track to their mates and then abuse their positions as public servants to try and damage their mates' business rival. It is utterly disgusting, cynical and shows the contempt they now have for democracy and public accountability. But will anyone do anything about it? Certainly not Colin 'Cover Up'.

IT'S OFFICIAL - ROBBING IS IRREPLACEABLE!

SO Robbing Archer is deemed irreplaceable now, it seems.
That is one conclusion to be drawn after the decision not to appoint a replacement for Robbing as Artistic Director for 2008.
The truth, of course, is this: no-one of any note wanted the job.
Those who were credible and had been directly approached had the good sense to decline.
"Someone else can sup from your poison chalice" was their general consensus.
Then we were left with nonentities, has-beens and never will be's (what, you mean the Culture Company's Directors? ed) when the council's Appointments Committee met to, er, not make an appointment.
The interviewing panel found themselves in the slightly, ahem, embarrassing position of deciding that amongst the shortlisted candidates for Robbing's job, they could find precisely no-one to fill her rather wide shoes.
Which prompts the following questions:
Which firm of headhunters was responsible for shortlisting these unsatisfactory candidates?
How much did this lengthy process cost the council taxpayers of Liverpool?
What action has been taken as a result of the failure to appoint from those who were shortlisted by the headhunters?
And did members of the Appointments Committee claim expenses for turning up to, er, do nothing?
Council Leader, Warren Bradley, trying to put his best and very bravest face on yet another Culture Company cock-up, summoned up this elegant explanation: "No-one was identified who I thought could have fulfilled the role better than what we have got already.”
So exactly who is, 'what we have got already?'
Shurely not Jase?
Or the invisible man?
Not that American bullshitter Donaldson!?
Just exactly who is Warren's Cultural Colossus who will bestride LIverpool in 2008 bestowing their creative wares on a grateful populace?
Shurely not barmy Claire McColgan? Nor any of the distinctly unimpressive Creative Team (sic) who Robbing appointed before her unseemly and hasty departure?
Put us out of our misery, Warren. Who will the people of Liverpool be able to hold accountable for the triumph that will be 2008?
No-one?

THE CULTURE COMPANY IS REALLY FLAGGING NOW...

WE ARE LITERALLY SPEECHLESS AT THIS....

---- Original Message -----

From: Doran, Mike

Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 11:55 AM

Subject: FLY FREE 800TH BIRTHDAY FLAG

For Immediate Release Tuesday, January 16 2006

FLY FREE 800^TH BIRTHDAY FLAG

Landmark locations and businesses in Liverpool are being urged to fly the flag for the city’s 800^th Birthday.

Distributed free of charge, businesses with flag poles are being invited throughout this January to parade a special Liverpool 800 flag.

And at 10.30am on Wednesday (January 17) the city’s official number one residence – Liverpool Town Hall – will set an example with a civic unfurling of its flag, witnessed by Lord Mayor Councillor Joan Lang and Leader of Liverpool City Council Councillor Warren Bradley.

The Liverpool Culture Company is encouraging businesses across Merseyside to support the 800^th birthday year and help promote the commerce of the city in the run up to the city being European Capital of Culture in 2008.

Businesses with flag poles can request a flag, which come in two sizes - 4yard and 4ftby2ft - by e-mailing commercial@liverpool08.com

All members of the 2008 business forum – 08businessconnect – are also being invited to display a free desktop version in their receptions, meeting rooms and on their company vehicles. Non-members can join 08 businessconnect for free to ensure they too receive a free flag, which can be picked up at the 08 place in Whitechapel from Monday 22 January.

Councillor Warren Bradley, Leader of Liverpool City Council and Business Champion for the city, said: ‘’We want businesses to lead the way and publicly set the tone for celebrating our 800^th. Businesses have played a major role in making the city world famous, from Meccano to Littlewoods, and through 08businessconnect they have a unique opportunity to make a name for themselves and the city once again.’’

Lord Mayor Councillor Joan Lang, said: ''One of Liverpool’s defining characteristics is the pride people have in the city – and looking back on 800 years of dramatic history there is a huge amount to be proud of. This flag is little way of celebrating that fact. Hopefully the sight of them on our streets and in offices will stir people's spirits and remind them we have a big future too.''

ENDS

PHOTO-CALL: Liverpool’s Lord Mayor and Council Leader attend civic unfurling of special 800 flag.
LOCATION: Liverpool Town Hall, High Street
DATE: Wednesday, January 17
TIME:10.30am

NOTES TO EDITORS:
08businessconnect will stage 13 events in 2007 offering vital opportunities for businesses of all sizes to network with key buyers and suppliers wishing to work in Liverpool in lead up to 08 and beyond. For more details log on to www.08bsuinessconncet.com

For further information please call Mike Doran at the Liverpool Culture Company on 0151 233 6761 or 0780 145 3918. For the latest news from Liverpool, European Capital 2008, visit www.liverpool08.com

THE LIVERPOOL SUBCULTURE CHRISTMAS QUIZ TO END THEM ALL...

1) Who said: "McElhinney should be banged up in Walton jail"

Was it:

a) Councillor Warren Bradley
b) Councillor Mike Storey
c) Matt Finnegan
d) Mrs McElhinney
e) All of the above

(We have included two pictures of Walton so we can all see what McElhinney is missing, ed)


2) How many times did former chief executive, Sir Diddy announce his early retirement in March 2005, before he changed his mind?

a) Just the once to the Daily Post
b) Twice - both times to the Daily Post
c) Three times - twice to the Daily Post and once to the Liverpool Echo
d) He never announced his early retirement at all, that was all made up by Matt Finnegan, the city council's media chief and poor Sir David has ever since been the victim of a disgraceful smear campaign of public abuse, vile attacks and disgraceful misrepresentation of a fine, upstanding, noble-minded, public servant whose only crime has been to serve the people of Liverpool above and beyond the call of duty (steady on, ed).3) Who pleaded with Matt Finnegan on the day after the media chief was suspended on trumped up charges: '"Please don't tar us all with the same brush"?

a) Sir Diddy
b) The rottweiller, McElhinney
c) The smiling assassin, Halsall (above)
d) Chas Cole
e) Jolly Jack










4) Who said: "I will have to resign if they are threatening my job"?

a) Sir Diddy
b) Councillor Mike Storey
c) Matt Finnegan
d) The rottweiller
e) The smiling assassin
f) Tony Blair

5) Who is this blonde woman and what is her strange relationship to Dr David McElhinney (aka Dr Death, the Liverpool rottweiller, ed)






6) Name all Dr David's other blonde friends (and state whether they ever joined him at Knowsley on an all expenses paid trip abroad funded by a council contractor) and whether he then moved to Liverpool city council where he fixed them up with a do-nothing, but highly lucrative job. Or not . (It is permissible for you to use a separate sheet of paper to list any of these, ed)

7) Who said: "I told them no good will come of all of this - no-one will win."

a) Colin 'Cover Up' Hilton
b) The smiling assassin, Halsall
c) Rex Makin
d) Saddam Hussain

8) Which famous Liverpool trio ran in the New York marathon?

a) Sue, Grabbit and Runne
b) Kendall, Ball and Harvey
c) Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil (that's the city council's new slogan, ed)
d) McElhinney, Halsall and Cole





9) Who got free tickets from Phil Halsall for concerts at The Summer Pops?

a) Colin 'Cover Up' Hilton
b) The rottweiller McElhinney (for his parents, ed)

c) Sir Diddy and Lady Alison Henshaw
d) Councillor Paul Clark
e) Councillor Mike Storey
f) The woman at the butty shop (true, ed)
g) All of the above

10) Whose son made a 'once in a lifetime' appearance in a Southport-based combo, as the support act to Status Quo at the Summer Pops, for a still undisclosed fee from Chas Cole's CMP?

11) Which Porsche-driving Executive Director slammed the phone down on a journalist who had the disgraceful cheek and temerity to dare to ask him about his son's 'once in a lifetime' appearance at the Summer Pops and whether he had ever officially declared such a personal and pecuniary interest, in accordance with council regulations? (this question has been drafted by the bald eagle, ed)






12) Name the two pop bands in this historic and much loved photograph.






13) How many hits did the liverpoolevilcabal blog get?

a) Not half as many as the number of pounds Henshaw stole from Liverpool.
b) Not half as many as the number of pounds McElhinney stole from Liverpool
c) Dunno - but all 19,531 council workers were logging on as soon as they got home.
d) 102,465 (precisely, ed)
14) Who said: "show me the money."

a) Dick Turpin (well, it is the panto season, ed)
b) Sir Diddy
c) The rottweiller
d) Robbing Archer
e) Chas Cole
f) All of the above

15) What was the venue for the infamous Summer Pops media briefing, attended by the Harbarrowboy, Chas Cole and Jon Brown?

a) Colin Hilton's office
b) Jason Harbarrowboy's office
c) Chas Cole's office
d) The Racquet Club
e) Starbucks
f) The back of the bike sheds

16) Who said: "Don't let the evil cabal get you down" and to whom?

a) Mike Storey to Matt Finnegan
b) Warren Bradley to Mike Storey
c) Rex Makin to Matt Finnegan
d) Tony Parrish to the people of Liverpool

17) Who was Tony Parrish?

a) Sir Diddy desperately trying to get a sympathy vote
b) Daily Post journalist, Larry Neild (pictured, ed)
c) Francis Rossi from Status Quo
d) That bullshitting Kris Donaldson fella
e) Colin Hilton, trying to ensure that anyone with half a brain seemed infinitely preferable to the evil cabal
f) All of the above

18) Who said: "Whatever happens, we won't let you down."

a) Sir Diddy
b) Mike Storey
c) The editor of the Echo
d) Sven Goran Erikson






19) Who is Inspector Clueless? (clue: he's a fat, moronic, pompous Lib Dem councillor who believes in nothing but himself, ed. (Sorry, that doesn't really narrow it down very much, ed)




20) What is this?
TIE-BREAKER: Please supply a suitable caption to this action photograph of the new leader of the council.



COMING SOON: The Liverpool subCulture Awards for 2006, featuring the Tony Parrish Award to the 'Hypocrite of the Year'; the 'Blonde of the Year' (sponsored by BT); Quote of the Year; etc, etc, etc.

"WON'T YOU PLEASE, PLEASE, HELP ME, HELP ME, HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

MIKE STOREY has blundered again with claims that Sir Paul McCartney is to play a Liverpool gig during Capital of Culture.
The former council leader, not known for his discretion, told a private meeting of Liverpool businesspeople that Macca was being lined-up for the gig with '"friends".
Of course bungling Storey did not apparently realise that his words would be immediately reported in the Liverpool Daily Post and start yet another 'will he, won't he?' hare running about Macca.
The truth is this: The Culture Company are desperate to sign up McCartney for 2008.
He is being offered millions to fill the huge gaping whole left by their premature announcement last Monday about the 'Concert with No Stars (yet)' on the waterfront, in the summer.
Even that Aussie charlatan, Robbing Archer understood that McCartney's presence was fairly essential to the success of the entire Capital of Culture year.
Robbing had some imaginative plans to persuade McCartney to play Liverpool, giving him complete artistic control of a day-long gig or series of concerts throughout the summer.
As artistic 'curator' Macca would have been able to choose who would have appeared on the same stage and which other artists to give a platform to.
McCartney has already made it crystal clear that he wants to give a showcase to young Liverpool talent from LIPA in particular (good for him, ed)
Not unnaturally, Macca also wants to be given the final say about anyone else who is going to try and muscle in on the act.
After all he is a global superstar, and in 2008, Liverpool needs Macca more than Macca needs Liverpool (true, very true, ed).
All of this was being slowly and carefully negotiated by the Harbarrowboy and assorted minions from the Culture Company.
But now that Storey has opened his big fat gob, there are serious concerns that he could spook Sir Paul and put him off the gig. (After all he is not going through the easiest of times at the moment and could do without more hassle.)
No one from the Culture Company is talking about the Macca gig or confirming Storey's indiscretions, because premature publicity could ruin their chances.
Interestingly, despite all the brave words at the launch event last Monday night, Storey clearly felt under pressure to talk up 2008 because it has so far failed to capture the public imagination.
He was anxious to re-assure business that 2008 is still on track - so he revealed the plans for McCartney "like a rabbit out of a hat" as Warren Bradley might say.
Macca's appearance in his home town in 2008 would, of course, go a long way to answering the critics. (As long as the city council doesn't give all its staff first preference for tickets, like McElhinney and Halsall dreamed up last time, ed)

WHO GOES FIRST? - NIGHT OF THE LONG KNIVES ON THE CULTURE COMPANY BOARD

NINE members of the Capital of Culture Board are to be sacked in a new shake-up.

The move is official confirmation that Henshaw's original placemen and women have failed.
At the moment the Culture Board is made up of 23 Directors, all hand-picked by Sir Diddy.
They have done bugger all to make Capital of Culture a success except sit around once a month at the Town Hall after tucking into a sumptuous lunch, then bore everyone rigid with their talking shop, try to outdo each other in proclaiming their cultural expertise (sic, ed) , pat themselves on the back, congratulate everyone and anyone who gave them a fancy presentation on all the fantastic things that are going to happen (shurely some mistake? ed) and hope that, as night follows day, they would be getting a mention in the 2008 New Year's Honours List of Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

In other words, this is exactly the 'do nothing' role that Henshaw prescribed for them.

But now after the departure of Robbing Archer and the complete failure of the Culture Company to deliver anything it has promised, someone has obviously had enough of these stuffed shirts competing for self-aggrandisement. (My money is on Warren Bradley threatening to withdraw council support, ed).
Now the Board are being whittled down to just 14.
The 14 will include three council representatives (Bradley, Storey and Anderson).
The rest of them will have to fight it out for their places in the next month, with final decisions made on November 29th.
But there is even worse - the Board will now meet every THREE months! Again, official confirmation that their presence is useless. (If this isn't an admission of abject failure, I don't know what is, ed)
And there will also be a small Operational Board, replacing the current Executive Group, which will meet approximately every six weeks (This will be where the real power is carved up - just wait to see who is on this, ed)
An Advisory Group (another do-nothing body, set up just for appearances sake, ed) is also:

"being established to create a wider stakeholder group of key representatives, funding partners and other organisations who are not members of the Board. This group will meet twice a year to allow the Board to draw on the extensive field of expertise available." (Utterly fanciful bollocks. Do they think we were born yesterday? ed)

Which of the nine will be sacked, resign or find 'new opportunities' elsewhere will only be decided at the end of November, but no doubt a few will jump first.

Here is our forecast: Those who we think will go, are in red.

Prof Drummond Bone (Chairman) - Vice Chancellor, University of Liverpool (Bone-Head should go, but won't, ed)

Cllr Warren Bradley (Vice Chair) - Leader, Liverpool City Council

Loyd Grossman OBE (Vice Chair) - Chair, Culture NorthWest / Chairman, National Museums Liverpool

Susan Woodward OBE (Vice Chair) - Managing Director, ITV-Granada

Jason Harborow (Chief Executive) - Liverpool Culture Company (Harbarrowboy will have to stay unfortunately, though it is through Bradley's gritted teeth, ed)

Tony Wilson (Company Secretary) - Senior Partner, Hill Dickinson, Liverpool

Cllr Joe Anderson - Leader of the Opposition, Liverpool City Council

Tom Bloxham MBE - Chair, Arts Council England North West

Cllr Mike Storey CBE - Liverpool City Council

Prof Michael Brown DL - Vice Chancellor, Liverpool John Moores University (mate of Sir Diddy's)

Wally Brown CBE - Principal, Liverpool Community College

Sir Neil Cossons OBE - Chairman, English Heritage (he thinks its a complete disaster)

Louise Ellman - MP for Riverside

Cllr Ronnie Round - Leader, Knowsley Council

Ruth Gould - Creative Director, North West Disability Arts Forum

Bryan Gray - Chairman, Northwest Regional Development Agency

Roger Lewis - Chairman, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

Pat Loughrey - Director, BBC Nations & Regions

David McDonnell CBE DL - Chief Executive Worldwide, Grant Thornton International (who he?)

Roy Morris DL - Chairman, The Mersey Partnership (universally loathed by the politicians as a Henshaw acolyte)

Sir Bob Scott - International Director, Liverpool Culture Company (marginalised and irrelevant, but might be kept on because they feel sorry for him, ed)

Brenda Smith -Group UK Managing Director, Ascent Media

Andrew Worthington MBE - Chair, Sport England's Northwest Regional Sports Board

IF YOU THINK SOMEONE SPECIFIC SHOULD WALK THE PLANK, PLEASE SEND US HIS/HER NAME IN A COMMENT AND WE WILL KEEP A RUNNING TOTAL. WE WILL PASS ON THE MOST POPULAR CHOICE FOR THE ORDER OF THE BOOT TO COLIN 'COVER UP' HILTON.