PREMONITION OF AN UNCIVIL WAR or BATTLE OF THE GIANTS: the smiling assassin versus CoverUp

UNCIVIL WAR has broken out between the smiling assassin Hasitall and Colin CoverUp.

At stake is Hasitall's £220,000-a-year (plus 15 per cent Performance Related Pay) position as Executive Director (Resources) which Hilton wants to scrap.

Hasitall was behind the publication of the council's Blankety-Blank report into Tony Parrish's liverpool-evil-cabal blog.

The secret report, which had most of the names blanked out, fingered the Storeyteller as the source of info on the blog and recommended that he should be reported to the Standards Board.

But Colin CoverUp, in the time honoured traditional fashion, refused to take any action against the former council leader.

CoverUp decided another Standards Board investigation into Storey would sound the death knell for the Lib Dims and expose them as complicit in blackmailer Sir Diddy Henshaw's corrupt rule.

So Hilton quietly buried the report in his bottom drawer - until Labour's Joe Anderson rattled his cage and finally got his hands on it last week.

Hence the not-very shock headlines...

Painting Title: Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War), 1936 Salvador Dali

For the last year, Hasitall has been quietly simmering away in fury at Hilton's refusal to take action against Storey.

He wanted revenge because his own corruption had been comprehensively exposed by the legendary blog - his relationship with Chas 'show me the money' Cole; the New York marathon; his son's band Abe appearing with Status Quo at Chas's Summer Pops; free parking for Chas; the spiralling cost of the O8 Place to fit out Chas with an office, etc, etc.

So when it became clear that Hilton, at the Fireman's insistence, was now lining up Hasitall for the chop, the smiling assassin decided to act.
He wanted to get his revenge in first after it became clear that he was soon going to be the 'scapegoat' for Liverpool being named the worst financially run council in the country by the Audit Commission.

(Not so much the scapegoat really though - he is the city's Treasurer after all! eds)


So Hasitall, who leaked the first Tony Parrish report to the Echo a year ago, made sure the final report - produced by his own internal audit staff, of course - got into the hands of Labour's Joe Anderson.

The smiling assassin was quite happy for the Storeyteller to be fingered, but his real target was Hilton - for failing to refer the whole issue to the Standards Board.

In doing so, he scored a direct hit!

The report exposes CoverUp as politically biased, in protecting the Lib Dims and letting the Storeyteller off the hook.

It also reveals that CoverUp ignored an official recommendation and publically raised huge questions marks about his own professional integrity as £225,000-a-year chief executive, (plus 15 per cent Performance Related Pay).

(Not that we were in any doubt about that, anyway! eds)

CoverUp decided to cover-up for the Lib Dims.

So another everyday story of Liverpool politics!


Meanwhile, as the civil war between the smiling assassin and Hilton now rages, stay tuned for more instalments!!!!

It ain't over yet by a long way.....

LIB DEM LEADERSHIP RESULT: "Infamy, infamy - they've all got it in for me!" Ooooooooh, what a Carry On!

So here's the result:
Bungling Fireman - 26 votes
Hypocrite Kemp - 13 votes
Paul Clein - 7 votes

Almost half the Lib Dem group of 46 councillors refused to vote for the bloke who has been their Leader for the last two miserable years.
Hardly a vote of confidence in Bradley's Carry On leadership then.

(Maybe it will end up being one of them there Pilchard victories? ed)
No wonder Labour were rubbing their hands with glee at the apparent blind stupidity (you promised never ever to use that phrase ever, ever again, so help you God, eds) of the Lib Dim group.
As sure as eggs is eggs, Bradley is for the high jump from the Standards Board when it finally gets its act together and starts moving a bit quicker than a snail in quick-setting concrete.
What a Carry On this will all be in Capital of Culture year.
Bradley is banking, however, on the opening of Liverpool One and the McCartney concert bringing him some much needed summer joy and respite.
We suspect that Grovenor will be moving heaven and earth to keep a distance from the discredited regime.
And Macca will continue to marginalise the city council and Culture Company from any involvement at Anfield (won by Labour on May 1st, eds).

This won't stop gullible journalists from the craven Echo and CityTalks-but-no-one-listens giving Bradley the opportunity to stand in front of something stupid and say: "What a fantastic day this is for Liverpool! Ten years ago we were...etc, etc."
More discerning scribes - such as those now working on a Radio 4 investigation into the missing milions and especially the role played by the Rottweiller's Liverpool Direct Limited, Chas Cole and the smiling assassin - may take a slightly more rigorous perpective.
We live in hope.
But then there is the trial of Counclllor Hurst in late July, which should also be worth a seat in the public gallery.
And so on and so forth.
Meanwhile the old nag Clucas, who refused at the last minute in the paddock, has reserved the right to stand in any future Lib Dem leadership contest.
(She's a wily old filly, isn't she? eds)
And the Leader-in-waiting, the Arch Hypocrite Kemp will be busily working behind the scenes in the next few months to try and win friends and influence people and shore up more support amongst the Lib Dims.
By which stage Uncle Joe should have his hands on the Boot Estate report.
Meanwhile God knows what Paul Clein will do - he's capable of anything.
And a substantial rump of Lib Dims, led by the ga-ga Sir Trevor will be wringing their hands in despair as the Fireman tries to bluff his way out of the Standards Board.

• Bradley's first test will come this week when he announces his new Cabinet and reveals whether he has kept a place for the Storeyteller.He was promising anyone who would listen in the last week that he would be sacking the Storeyteller. We shall see.
  

No wonder Labour were grinning like cats that got the cream after tonight's result.

What a Carry On!

TONY'S BLOG UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT: PITY THE CULTURE COMPANY ISN'T!

Dear loyal readers,

We have missed you.

That's why we have persuaded the legendary Tony Parrish (alive and well and living in clover, somewhere across the water, surrounded by a bevy of gorgeous followers catering to his every whim, ed) to hand over his blog to his fans (that's us, ed) so that we can carry on his good work.

And there has been no better time for a new, tougher, more uncompromising broom to sweep through Liverpool subculture than now - when the dunderheads at the Culture Company appear to have finally gone bonkers/insane/committed hara kiri - by cancelling the Mathew Street festival.

As we speak, our favourite organ, the Echo is launching a last ditch bid to hold Europe's biggest outdoor music festival (what about Glastonbury? ed) in a pub somewhere off Old Hall Street.

Our current council leader Warren Bradley has flown back from the Canary Islands, muttering "crisis, what crisis" under his breath and has also revealed his own personal 'no booze' rescue plan to save the festival.

At any moment, we are expecting Gordon Brown to divert his attention from boring foot and mouth disease and form a four piece combo with Blair, Prescott and Campbell called "the Spinners" to make a guest appearance in someone's back yard in Kensington and save the Festival.

Oh what fun we are having.

What is clear from this monumental cock-up is that the remnants of the cabal are still in control of Culture.

Bradley has allowed them to take control without the slightest effort at holding them to account.

Arrogant, unaccountable, undemocratic and a law unto themselves, Colin Cover Up and The Harbarrowboy appear to have decided amongst themselves to cancel the Mathew Street Festival.

Just like that. ("Or it could be like that" - Tommy Cooper)

Warren Bradley has professed total ignorance (no surprise there then, ed).

Which makes us wonder why anybody would want to vote Liberal Democract ever again when their leader doesn't have a clue what is going on in the city.

What's the point in voting for him then?

It seems we would be better off abolishing inconvenient elections all together and just letting Cover Up and his band of incompetents run the show forever (and award themselves huge pay rises every month, no doubt, ed)

In the meantime, Liverpool will be left to become even more of a music hall joke, scores of businesses will go to the wall, thousands of visitors will be left with nothing to do and the city will lose one of its genuinely international events.

Whats more, hard-faced Harbarrowboy and Hilton appear to have been a bit surprised by the universal outrage which has greeted their bungling decision.

Which shows how lacking in judgment they are and how little they understand the city of Liverpool.

It's a bit like the Town Clerk of Rio de Janeiro cancelling Mardi Gras and being a bit surprised that people have got just a teentsy weentsy bit upset.

What cast-iron fools we have in charge of our city.

Bradley should resign - the Mathew Street debacle happened on his watch. Professing ignorance compounds his error.

As the senior politician he must take full responsibility.

But before he goes, he should demand the resignations of both Harbarrowboy and Hilton who are complicit in the worst Public Relations disaster for Liverpool since Degsy decided to become a full-time member of the Tendency.

They are clearly incompetent and out of their depth. Their arrogance in thinking that they could get away with such a decision is typical of the cabalist rule.

They treat the people of Liverpool with utter contempt and have no respect for the city's culture, its history or how it is viewed by the outside world.

That is the only conclusion to be drawn from what Bradley himself has admitted is 'a fiasco' which now appears to be the subject of a full-scale, sadly not independent, investigation.

Even the Echo agrees and certainly the people of Liverpool must be in despair at this monumental cultural cock-up.

Time for a clear-out and a clean-up.

And time we had politicians in charge who could get a firm grip of the shower of greedy wasters at the Culture Company and the city council (preferably around the neck, ed). No one would notice any difference if the Harbarrowboy was sacked.

Either that or we could always get Warren to give Chas Cole a ring and see if he can save the day ?

Perhaps we can hold the Mathew Street Festival in Sefton, instead?

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

(What do you think of that for a first effort then? Not bad, though I think we could have been a bit more direct and uncompromising. Yeah, I know, i pulled a few punches didn't I? Never mind, you will get the hang of it before too long - - and there will obviously be lots more opportunities to have a go. That's true. Do you think Bradley will really sack Harbarrow? No chance, if he did he would be admitting he was in charge of a catastrophe - they will all hang on to their jobs and we will lurch on to another crisis. Suppose your right....)

COMING SOON:

REVEALED: THE HARBARROWBOY'S SECRET PROPERTY BUSINESS IN SPAIN or

"Why I go missing every Friday and have such a fetching tan" or

"No wonder the Culture Company is in such a mess when the guy in charge fucks off to the sunshine every weekend to pursue other private business interests...." (allegedly, ed)

ps you can get in touch with us at tonysparrishioners@hotmail.co.uk

CoC RESIGNATION No 2: CULTURE EVENTS BOSS QUITS...

The shock departure of Culture Company Events boss Lee Forde is a huge blow after the resignation yesterday of Joe Anderson.

Anderson's departure was a major political setback, destroying the cross-party consensus which had been created when the Culture nomination was won in 2004.

At a stroke it has given the green light to a ferocious political battle over 2008, for at least the next 18 months.

Forde's departure is a huge body blow to the nuts and bolts of the organisation - he was one of the few competent senior managers still working in the Millennium House Fun Palace.

More than that, Forde was of the city. He knows Liverpool, understands Liverpool and has been active and professional in trying to improve the city's cultural offer.

He was central to all the plans for events in the city over the next 18 months - Mathew Street, Tall Ships, the opening and closing ceremonies and all the other public events that the city usually stages.

However, never one to hide his feelings (a true Scouser then, ed) he has made no secret of his increasing cynicism about the way the Culture Company was being run.

He has rolled his eyes as the well-paid likes of the Harbarrowboy, the bullshitter Donaldson and the invisible man communications boss (we have actually forgotten his name! Paul something isn't it? ed) have made Liverpool a laughing stock.

Forde had made no secret of his contempt for their amateurish machinations, their constant changes of mind, their bright ideas that are world-class one day and jettisoned as easily the next, and their awe-inspiring ability to spend tens of thousands on the third rate.

But most of his colleagues have been completely taken aback by his walk-out. He had just had enough of all the 'fannying about' as he memorably described it.

Certainly Forde's Number 2, Eddy Grant will have no hesitation in now telling the Harbarrowboy exactly where to go if he is expected to do Ford's job as well.

Which means the Harbarrowboy will either give the job to someone who is patently not up to it from within the organisation, or he will throw a huge wad of money at an outside consultant to try and dig them out of the deep do-do.

But given the particular circumstances - six months away from the start of 2008 and right in the middle of the historic 800th birthday celebrations (we joke, ed) few sensible operators will want to volunteer for the job.

It is a poisoned chalice, even for someone like Andy Redhead, a professional operator who staged the Robbie Williams world tour and has worked for the city before.

Unless - someone else, someone completely different, can save the day.

Step forward Chas Cole.....

PS We will be returning soon to the subject of the Culture Company's spiralling salary costs and the astonishing invoices for chauffeurs and posh dinners, which Joe Anderson exposed.

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'.

ANOTHER CULTURE COCK-UP - POPS GOES, THE WEASEL!

Summer Pops axed....

Do we need to say anything at all about this utter shambles?But here's the picture gallery of the guilty men...