Doing anything remotely interesting the week beginning July 14th??????

SADLY, Pete Price is going on his jollies in July, so we won't be treated to his truly amazing radio show on City Talk-but-no-one-listens.

However, all is not lost.

As Pete informs us on his rather excellent blog, his place as "dj" is going to be taken by The Harbarrowboy, fresh from the hacienda.

This could be fun....

KOP FOR THAT! LIB DIMS HAND OVER £1.9MILLION TO MACCA TO PLAY ANFIELD!

• MACCA'S ULTIMATUM TO COUNCIL - 'COUGH UP £1.9MILLION NOW, OR I'M OFF!'

• PANIC-STRICKEN LIB DIMS HAND IT OVER TO AVOID REPEAT OF MATHEW ST FIASCO
  
• HEADLESS CHICKENS IN TURMOIL AT CULTURE COMPANY, AFTER LATEST COCK-UP

• GUESS WHO IS GOING TO END UP PAYING FOR THIS?
  

Panic-stricken Lib Dims have today handed over £1.9million to millionaire ex-Beatle Paul McCartney after he delivered an ultimatum.

A furious Macca threatened to pull out of his planned gig at Anfield in June, unless the Culture Company handed over total organisation of the event to his own production company.
He demanded the cash was transferred by the close of business today, after 18 fruitless and frustrating months of trying to deal with the Culture Company.
Macca's patience finally ran out on Friday when the ultimatum was delivered to the Fun Palace at Millennnium House - sparking scenes of mass panic and headless chickens as the bureaucratic suits were forced to gather for a series of top-level meetings.

Macca told the Culture Co they had until today to agree to hand over the event lock, stock and barrell - or the concert would never happen.
Colin CoverUp then decided to leap into action (well, he got slowly to his feet and decided to politely ask a minion to send off a carrier pigeon to ask various penpushers what he should do, eds)
The upshot was that the Lib Dims decided to hand over the dosh - even though they are already £62 million in the red and are busily sacking staff, closing old people's homes, leisure and sports centres and increasing charges for anything that moves.
Macca is still waiving his £300,000 appearance fee and handing it over to LIPA - but that still takes the total cost to council taxpayers to an extra £2.25million.
On paper.
The final cost will be millions more of course - all heavily disguised by the smiling assassin, Hasitall.
And remember the Harbarrowboy originally promised the Macca gig would be 'cost neutral'.
Then, that it would cost just £1.2million.
Now CoverUp and the Fireman Bradley are desperately trying to persuade safety experts to find space at Anfield to fit in another 10-15,000 extra seats for the gig.
So that they can then sell the extra tickets to plug the bulging gap in the city's coffers.
But safety experts have so far refused to give the go-ahead. If they refuse, watch out for more cuts in services and the city's Culture year being severely curtailed still further.
Meanwhile all the bollocks about global TV rights and DVDs and corporate hospitality coining it for the city, have all proved groundless.
The tree killing media, at the craven Echo and Daily Post will hail this as a fantastic boost for the city - Macca is coming! It's Official! An extra 15,000 tickets go on sale for gig of the century!
Not a single member of the Liverpool meeja has got anywhere near asking a single relevant question about the spiralling out of control cost of this event.
The total cost will forevever remain a mystery.
Meanwhile we bet Macca doesn't play this at Anfield:

<>

EXPOSED: A TALE OF TWO CITIES - SPIN VERSUS SUBSTANCE

WE reproduce below, for your entertainment, the full text of the press release issued by Randy Newman on the sad occasion of the resignation of Jason Harborow, aka The Harbarrowboy.

It is a triumph of spin over substance worthy of serious study by students of the genre (he means us, eds).

So we have, therefore, provided our own translation. Enjoy.

"Jason Harborow, Chief Executive of Liverpool Culture Company, has announced today that he is stepping down from his post.

Translation: We have been forced to pay off the Harbarrowboy, because the Fireman Bradley’s stupid emails and secret meetings meant that Jase could take us to the cleaners for constructive dismissal with all the attendant disastrous publicity that would ensue from such a high profile case. And we couldn’t stand another round of ruinous headlines in our Culture year.

...He has successfully steered the Culture Company from its inception to readiness...
Translation: Jase has spent all his time feathering his own nest and looking after his own interests, by hopping from one job to another in his four years at the Fun Palace. He made sure that he never stayed in the same place long enough for the penny to drop that he couldn’t deliver a stamped addressed envelope if it killed him. (Which it very nearly did). Everyone agrees the Culture Company is utterly ramshackle, incompetent and hopeless and no-one has the foggiest idea where all the money has gone or what is supposed to be happening.

...of the Culture Company, including raising private sponsorship funding...
Translation: He couldn’t even do the job he was originally appointed to do – raise private sponsorship. The city council is still £5million adrift of the amount he promised to raise, no-one knows whether a penny in hard cash ever came in – it was always support ‘in kind’ which meant that we are now knee deep in crap Echo non-stories, Sayers pasties and sausage rolls, Ethel Austin undies and free legal advice for Jase from Hill Dickinson...

...and the delivery of the much acclaimed artistic programme for 08....
Translation: No one has acclaimed the artistic programme at all, except for us at the city council and the Echo. At least half of the population seem to be scratching their heads and wondering when something is going to happen, but we don’t give a toss about those oiks on the council estates, obviously. Most of the good stuff has been put together by our established cultural partners, but we have claimed all the credit and have managed to slap our 08 brand on everything that moves. Tee hee.

Mr Harborow said: “I have fulfilled my pledge to the people of Liverpool...
Translation: I have ripped you mugs off, big time. By the Christ, I have filled me boots with your dosh. Dick-heads. I am laughing all the way to the bank – and you have let me! Fantastic result.

...my job is done...
Translation: “I have spent the last six months on the sick and got full pay! That amounted to £100,000 in the bank for doing fuck all - except sit in the hacienda sucking ice lollies. I have achieved what I set out to do – bugger all. And since my sick pay was going to go down to half the amount, I thought I would jack it all in now and let my drinking mate Col pay me off with a handsome cheque.

...and it is time now for a new challenge”....
Translation: I am going to see Bradley off first of all, by submitting an official complaint to the Standards Board. Hasitall and Cover Up have been egging me on to do it for months and nothing would now give me greater pleasure than
to see Bradley barred from public office. Cheeky bastard. Who the fuck does he think he is? It’s us officers who run the council, not the morons like him who stand for election. With a bit of luck, I will come across as the innocent victim of it all. Even though I cocked up Mathew Street, everyone will forget all that when Bradley is led in chains down Dale Street. Then I am going to do a bit of consultancy to any other European cities who are gullible enough to pay any attention to a word I say and give me lots more lucre. I might do a bit of extra shopping in Chester, I have got some personal stuff to sort out and after that it will be a life of Riley back at the hacienda. But not Joe, obviously....

He is moving on to pursue new business interests and is to step down from his post at the end of the month...

Translation: We have no idea what he is going to do now and we don’t care, we just want to see the back of him PDQ.

He went on to say: "I have very much enjoyed my time in Liverpool...
Translation: This bloody city has been a fucking nightmare. First Finnegan sussed me out as a total fraud within weeks, but Henshaw thankfully got him out of the way for making sure the papers knew Henshaw wasn’t going to get his pension. Then Forde started kicking off about me cutting the Mathew Street budget and threatening people’s safety. What do I care about Scousers? But thank Christ Forde packed it in too. I had to laugh when Bradley had a go at him. It was priceless! If you ask me my recipe for success, I would say that I soon learnt not to stay in the same position for too long – so no-one cottoned on to what I was doing, until it was all too late. I have to say I learnt from the master - Sir Diddy. He taught me everything I knew. Must go for a coffee with him, next time I am in Manchester. I suppose I will end up paying as usual.

...It has been a tremendous challenge but we are there...
Translation: Thank Christ I am getting out of here before it all goes pear-shaped.

...2008 will be the beginning of the future for Liverpool and its entire people, and I am grateful that I was able to play a role in that...
Translation: This sounded really good when Randy read it to me over the phone, but now I have no idea what it means. I hope he doesn’t mean all that Creative Communities bollocks that the Scousers were obsessed with trying to promote. All those horrible unemployed people – trying to teach them about Culture was a bit like teaching Hasitall financial management. A hopeless case. They deserved being ripped off. Numb-skulls.

...Other personal business opportunities have opened up for me next year and I wish to concentrate my efforts on these...
Translation: I shall bullshit my way around the world.

...I have therefore taken the decision to leave now, confident that the programme for 2008 will make it the most successful Capital of Culture ever...
Translation: I am getting out of here sharpish, before people wise up. With my pockets full of dosh.

...I am leaving behind a strong organisation moving forwards into its delivery role..."
Translation: I have left it all in the hands of The Ego Our Lord Redmond, who just wants his name in the papers and nutters like McCogloose, who will just agree with the first person she hears. Half the staff are applying for other jobs like it is going out of fashion, the other half daren’t admit they work for the Culture Company for fear that it will ruin their reputations for life. The place is a total laughing stock. And I haven’t mentioned the money yet. But that’s your problem now, suckers!

Colin Hilton, Chief Executive of Liverpool City Council, said: “Jason has made a huge contribution to the city over the last four years in leading the team that has developed such a strong programme for 2008.

Translation: Am I really supposed to say this? Are you sure? I don’t know what the hell has been going on over there for the last four years. Where has all the money gone? No one has got a grip on it at all. Consultants kept on waltzing in and out as if they owned the place. They probably did, with all the money the city council was paying them. It wasn’t for me to interfere either. I am a council bureaucrat, I don’t do culture. I have no idea what the artistic programme is at all. But the brochure has lots of nice pictures in it. I just can’t be bothered to turn the pages. My mum seems to like it though.

...He brought flair and a commercial edge to our work....
Translation: Jase was great. He seemed to know lots of people in the private sector, which was obviously a very good thing, and he brought them in regularly to help us out with all kinds of things. They did an excellent job, by all accounts. One of these friends of Jase’s presented me with a nice grey fleece, which keeps me very warm, and also gave me a lovely wooly hat for my mum. Which was really very kind and thoughtful of him, I thought. They have done a fine job for Liverpool – just like BT and Liverpool Direct. It has been a real partnership. I am just waiting for a full report about what has been achieved.

...and will always be remembered for his enthusiasm and ability to engage the support of the most top level people across sport, government, the arts and other institutions.”

Translation: Jase was a terrific bullshitter. The Government ministers were so gullible it was incredible and they believed every word he said. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know who half these people are. I recognised a few faces from the telly though. One of them got a ticket for my mum to go and visit the House of Lords. She had a really nice day. Redmond went with her – he said something about going on a recce. The cultural lot/arty farty set were a piece of cake – they wouldn’t say boo to a goose, anyway. Even if Jase had pissed all over their chips.

Bryan Gray, Chairman of the Culture Company Board, said: "I would like to thank Jason for his contribution to the success of the Capital of Culture over the last few years.
Translation: I can’t believe I am saying this. Jesus, the things I have to do for these clods in Liverpool. Good job I have taken it over now, after I told that Fireman Fella what was what. He soon got the message. Pygmy.

...I am sure that everyone associated with the Liverpool Culture Company will join with me in sending best wishes to Jason for his future..."
Translation: I am not giving any radio interviews about this tosser. I would choke on these words.

THE HARBARROWBOY DISAPPEARS INTO THE SUNSET WITH A QUARTER OF A MILLION - WILL HE KNIFE THE FIREMAN?

THE worst financially-run council in the country today gave £250,000 to the Harbarrowboy as a reward for failure.

(You couldn't make this up, eds)

Liverpool city council Chief Executive Colin CoverUp gave the go-ahead for the huge pay-off to the barrowboy who has spent the last five months on the sick and on full-pay at his hacienda in Spain.

His departure is due to be officially announced on Thursday - but will be front page in the Daily Post tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the Audit Commission today named Liverpool as the worst financially-managed local authority in England.

The city council is now at least £29million in the red after failing to properly budget for Liverpool, Capital of Culture 2008 - which was partly chief executive Jason Harborow's responsibility.

Jase went on the sick in September after cocking up Liverpool's world-famous Mathew Street Festival and forcing its cancellation.

Since then, Fireman Bradley has got into big trouble with the Standards Board for trying to lure former Events chief Lee Forde into a 'Peroni Plot' to oust the hated Jase.

Amazingly, Jase's mega pay-off of council taxpayers money does not include a 'gagging clause' preventing him from speaking out in the future.

Which has only increased speculation amongst The Tonys, that chief exec Hilton and his sidekick, the smiling assassin Hasitall (whose 'reputation' for financial management is now irretrievably destroyed) have deliberately left the way open for Jase to try and kill-off Bradley.

(What goes around, comes around, eds)

Firstly, Harbarrowboy could sell his story to the News of the Screws for millions (just a joke - but he could sell it to the Daily Post for a Sayers pastie, eds).

Secondly, Jase could also now join Joe Anderson and submit a formal complaint to the Standards Board about Bradley.

This time Bradley would be accused of bullying Jase and undermining his position by sending an email to Hilton demanding Jase's head on a plate.

Looks like the lazy Hilton and incompetent Hasitall have therefore decided to cut their losses with Bradley and have teed it up for Jase to have a go back.

Meanwhile we can exclusively reveal details of the joint statement issued by Our Lord Redmond and CoverUp to mark Jase's departure for a life of ice-cream cones back at the hacienda.

It goes something like this:

"Jase has made an invaluable contribution to the success of Capital of Culture, blah-blah, he has been instrumental in re-building Liverpool's reputation nationally and internationally, blah-blah, we couldn't have done it without his efforts, blah blah, effective and competent leadership skills, blah-blah, thanks to Jase we have now moved into delivery phase, blah-blah, no need for Jase anymore now that we have Our Lord in charge, blah-blah, wish Jase well in future ventures, blah-blah, sorry about dodgy ticker, blah-blah, city always be grateful for everything that he has done, blah-blah, lots of ice cream and feet-up now, blah-blah, ta-ra matey, blah-blah-hope you knife Bradley on way out, blah-blah".

In other words, Harborow was an overpaid used car salesman who was promoted way out of his depth and tried to bullshit his way through the Culture Company, banking on the Government coming to his rescue in the end and baling him out, but then he cocked up Mathew Street and it all went pear-shaped so publicly, that he had to go.

STOP PRESS: THE HARBARROWBOY HAS TODAY BEEN FINALLY PAID OFF - WITH £250,000 OF YOUR MONEY!!!!

More follows soon....

FIREMAN BRADLEY BACKS DOWN AND ADMITS: "I LIED!!!"

Fireman Bradley has been forced to back down in his row with the Daily Post over their reporting of his secret meeting with Lee Forde.
By throwing in the towel, the ‘bang-to-rights’ fireman has virtually admitted: “I lied.”
Bradley told a meeting of Liverpool city council on December 12th that he had complained both to the editor of the Daily Post and the Press Complaints Commission over coverage of his extraordinary meeting with Mr Forde.
His Lib Dem colleagues gave him a standing ovation after an emotional tirade which conjured up visions of motherhood, apple pie and schoolboy footie teams.
But, we can now exclusively reveal, the fibbing fireman appears to have suffered some short term memory loss during his speech.
This is what he told the city council: “I have made a complaint to the Press Complaints Commission and the editor. If a retraction is not forth-coming, I will take it further.”
In fact, Councillor Bradley has not made a complaint to the PCC.
They have no record at all of any complaint from the fireman.
A spokesman for the PCC added: “The last complaint about the Liverpool Daily Post was in May 2007 – and that was nothing to do with councillors. We have had no complaint from Councillor Warren Bradley.”
Perhaps this was yet another porky that Bradley has told to try and save his neck?
But why does any of this matter? (Just wondering that? eds)
Because Bradley now appears to have accepted that he lied to the Daily Post when they first asked him about his secret rendezvous with Lee Forde (who he had hung out to dry over Mathew Street two days earlier.)
Let us recap.
When contacted by the Daily Post about the cloak and dagger meeting Bradley, as usual, blurted out the first thing that came into his head. He denied ever meeting Mr Forde.
The Daily Post has helpfully explained what happened:
‘Cllr Bradley was asked by our reporter about his meeting with Mr Forde, and replied: "Which meeting?"
Our reporter then told him that he was referring to a meeting at Cllr Bradley’s home on November 18. Cllr Bradley’s unambiguous response was: "I never had a meeting with him."’
Quite properly, the Daily Post reported that Bradley had at first denied the meeting. This was Lie Number 1.
The fireman only admitted the meeting had taken place later, when confronted with the email evidence and Mr Forde’s own sworn testimony.
Hot-headed Bradley, in a desperate attempt to then try and silence the Post, fired off two letters to the Editor threatening him with the Press Complaints Commission.
In a scene fresh out of Monty Python, Bradley found himself issuing a denial that he had issued a denial.
(It really doesn’t get much better than this, does it? You couldn’t make it up! eds)
Bradley’s PCC threat, we now learn, was totally bogus.
He has made no such complaint.
He daren’t - because he would lose and be left swinging in the wind.
And he committed a fourth lie by misleading the council that he had already submitted a complaint. When he hadn’t.
Perhaps someone should complain to the Standards Board?
What all this means is that Bradley now accepts that he lied to the DPost when he denied secretly meeting Mr Forde.
We shall return to Lies No 2 and 3…

PICTURE EXCLUSIVE: CAUGHT IN THE ACT! HARBOROW AND HILTON AT THE AFTERSHOW PARTY - THICK AS THIEVES (which is about right really, eds)

OUR exclusive picture reveals Jason Harborow, Chief Executive of the Liverpool Culture Company (and currently on sick leave apparently, eds) carousing with Colin Hilton, Chief Eecutive of Liverpool city council, which is in negotiations with solicitors to pay-off the Harbarrowboy with £250,000 of council taxpayers money.
The happy couple were snapped by one of our supporters at last night's after-show party at the Empire to celebrate the launch of Liverpool, Capital of Culture, 2008.
(We apologise for the poor quality - but would also like to unreservedly praise our brave and intrepid cameraman for having the bottle to snatch these two in the act, eds)
Both men laughed and joked as they downed the free beer and wine which flowed (they had to pay for spirits at the bar so they opted for the free stuff instead, eds)
The Harbarrowboy also spent some time locked in conversation with the smiling assassin Hasitall (Mr Phil Halsall, Executive Director) who controls the city council's purse strings and has so far allowed the council to chalk up £29 million of debts, mainly because of Jason's incompetence.
Who invited Jase is not clear. Who allowed him into the party is also not clear. But he obviously appears, to coin a phrase, to have "friends in high places."
His presence has already caused minor ructions, however.
(Thank Christ someone at least understands what is proper behaviour and what is totally improper behaviour, eds)
Councillor Marilyn Fielding, who has a deserved reputation as the rottweiller McElhinney's tame poodle, has surprisingly objected in the strongest possible terms and has emailed her Lib Dem colleague's with a tirade against the Harbarrowboy, demanding heads should roll because of his presence.
So she is obviously not completely beyond redemption.
But nothing of course will happen and CoverUp will no doubt mumble the usual bureacratic bollocks to any councillors who attempts to challenge both his personal and professional behaviour, integrity and honesty.

CAPTION COMPETITION:

Readers are invited to supply the best caption to our exclusive photo....

WIRRAL EXCLUSIVE: EMAIL SHOCK NO 2: 'GIGS FOR THE BOYS', OR THE HARBARROWBOY FIXES IT FOR BRIGGS...

THE STORY SO FAR:

It is 2006.

City Council Head of Sport, Chris Briggs is trying to get his son's band, SIRENZ a gig at the Mathew Street Festival in the summer.

He has already emailed the Capital of Culture Events Team several times, pushing for the band to be handed a top slot.

But so far, he has got no joy. An independent panel of judges is deciding which bands are to appear. SIRENZ have been sidelined.

Now Mr Briggs decides to pull rank and go over the heads of the Events Team.

He decides to drop Jason Harborow a line at the Culture Company.

Surely Jason can fix it for Briggs?

The Harbarrowboy is meanwhile trying to get the job of Executive Director for Culture, Media & Sport with the city council. When his CoC contract comes to an end after 2008, he can slip into another well-paid sinecure. This is the 'bigger picture'.

It would help his chances if he could ensure that Briggs, a potential rival for the post of Exec Director and a close associate of Council Leader Warren Bradley, owed him a favour or two.

Now read on...

-----Original Message-----

From: Briggs, Chris

Sent: 20 April 2006 15:33

To: Harborow, Jason

Subject: Mathew Street Festival

Jason

See below the dialogue I have been having with Kirsty Blakeman. My sons group is call "SIRENS" They are a Merseyside band of 5 in their early 20's . They have played gigs at the ZanziBar, Bar Fly , The Magnet and many more, they have also had their songs played by Billy Butler of his Friday afternoon show.

They are all very good musicians, write their own songs, are very good live performers and would be an ideal local band for the festival.

Thanks for your help on this

Regards

Chris

Chris Briggs
Head of Sport & Recreation

-----Original Message-----

From: Harborow, Jason

Sent: 25 April 2006 12:16

To: Briggs, Chris

Subject: RE: Mathew Street Festival

Chris

I have undertaken some discreet investigation. The groups will be selected by a peer group, the team have all the info they need.

I hope your sons group are selected

Jas

Jason Harborow

Chief Executive

Liverpool Culture Company

-----Original Message-----

From: Briggs, Chris

Sent: 07 June 2006 09:57

To: Harborow, Jason

Subject: Mathew Street Festival / Sons Band SIRENZ

Jason

Did you listen to the CD I gave you ?

I havnt had any feed back yet from the team about if my sons band SIRENZhave been selected to play.

I understand there are other stages being put up one of which is in Crosby Village. As a Crosby band they would be more than happy to play there.

Any chance ??

This is their web site with 3 sample songs playing. http://www.myspace.com/soundofsirenz

I can imagine how busy you are but I would really appreciate you and/or Lee's help on this.

Any chance

Regards

Chris

Chris Briggs

Head of Sport & Recreation

-----Original Message-----

From: Harborow, Jason

Sent: 07 June 2006 10:35

To: Forde, Lee

Cc: Blakeman, Kirstie

Subject: FW: Mathew Street Festival / Sons Band SIRENZ

Lee

I really need this to happen due to bigger picture issues.

Please can you find a slot for them and let me know.

Cheers

Jas

Jason Harborow

Chief Executive

COMING SOON: PART 3 'DON'T LET THIS EMBARRASS ME' - THE HARBARROWBOY.

REVEALED: SENIOR COUNCIL OFFICIAL IS STEP-FATHER OF SIRENZ DRUMMER - WIRRAL EXCLUSIVE!

A SENIOR official at the centre of a second Mathew Street council investigation is the step-father of a member of the band which jumped the queue.
Chris Briggs, interim Assistant Executive Director and the Harbarrowboy's deputy, was being investigated over the appearance of the band SIRENZ at the 2006 Mathew Street Festival.
It is alleged that Briggs abused his position to make sure that the band appeared - flouting the established procedures which every other band had to go through.
Briggs is the step-father of one of the founder members of the Crosby-based six-piece, drummer Marc Guy.
It is claimed that Briggs repeatedly pressurised other staff to make sure that SIRENZ got the gig - abusing his position of public trust.
No action has been taken so far against Briggs or the Harbarrowboy who had also been implicated in the conspiracy to fix a top spot for SIRENZ.
It now seems certain that Colin CoverUp will close the investigation by the city council's discredited internal audit team without any further ado.
He may already have done so.
Paying off the Harbarrowboy with £250,000 of public money gives CoverUp the ideal excuse to say that the investigation can not be brought to a successful conclusion.
CoverUp will also probably have the brass neck to tell everyone that it would not be in the public interest to continue with the probe.
After signing Jase's cheque, he may even claim that continuing the probe would involve further unwarranted public expense!
So if nothing happens to Jase, nothing will happen to Mr Briggs either.
We will never know for certain whether Briggs abused his position of public trust to get a gig for his son and his mates at Mathew Street.
(Although we can make our own minds up about that, eds)
Meanwhile, any of the local bands who played by the rules and failed to get a place at the 2006 Mathew St Festival should now review their strategy for pop world domination.
It would certainly help their chances in future if they had friends in high places within the city council.

SHOCK EXCLUSIVE: The Leader of Liverpool is a liar - it's official!

THREE cheers for the Liverpool Daily Post for standing up to the Lying Leader of Liverpool city council.

Fireman Bradley tried to threaten and bully the Post into submission over its coverage of the secret meeting with former Events Manager Lee Forde.

Bradley sent two threatening letters to the Post and then had the brass neck to make an offical complaint to the Press Complaints Commission.

At issue was the Post's coverage of the Mathew Street debacle and Bradley's secret rendezvous with Mr Forde.

Bradley hoped that his bullying and threats would silence the Post and make it toe the Lib Dem line.

Then he made his big mistake (not another one?! eds).

Under pressure, and desperate to rally support amongst the Lib Dem faithful, he regaled Wednesday's riveting council meeting with tales of how he was taking on the Post.

He revealed the private and confidential correspondence he had sent to the Post - and in the process tried to junk the paper's entirely fair and accurate coverage of events.

Unsurprisingly (to everyone but Bradley, eds) the Post had no alternative but to respond in kind by going public on the correspondence.

Hence the remarkable and lethal editorial in today's paper which you can read again here: 'The Leader of Liverpool is telling porkies to try and save his scrawny little neck and medicocre political career.'

All that was missing was the headline: SHOCK EXCLUSIVE: The Leader of Liverpool is a Liar - it's official!'

So we have supplied that instead.

Let us recap on the story so far:

Bradley has told three lies (at least, eds) about his meeting with Lee Forde.

Lie No 1. " I never had any meeting with Mr Forde".

Lie No 2. "The meeting was at Mr Forde's instigation".

Lie No 3. "I told Colin Hilton all about it."

Bradley has told a fourth lie, by claiming that he never told Daily Post reporter David Bartlett that he had not met Mr Forde.

In other words, he is now denying the denial. (Phew, this is getting complicated, eds)

Mr Bartlett has a full shorthand note of the interview with Bradley, which as the Post triumphantly points out, is admissable as evidence in any court in the land.

That deals with Lie No 1.

Then Mr Forde's phone bill proves that the initative for the meeting came from Bradley himself.

That deals with Lie No 2.

And Colin 'There can be no more cover-ups' Hilton's letter to Joe Anderson flatly contradicts Bradley's claim to have notified the chief executive of the meeting.

That deals with Lie No 3.

Lie.

After lie.

After lie.

But it is worse than that, folks.

The Leader of the great city of Liverpool, in order to try and save his own skin, has questioned the integrity of the Daily Post reporter, Mr Bartlett; its editor, Mark Thomas; and the integrity of the newspaper itself.

Now, while it would be perfectly acceptable to question the integrity of the craven Echo, which has wilfully ignored this story, the Daily Post is a wholly different kettle of fish.

And it is disgusting that the foolish fireman is prepared to try and 'do in' an innocent journalist for telling the truth, in exactly the same way as he tried to 'do in Mr Lee 'totally innocent' Forde.

All to save his pathetic political career.

Frankly my dears, it is just not on.

Bradley will be removed as Leader by the Standards Board.

He will also lose his case against the Daily Post at the Press Complaints Commission.

His political career will therefore be at an end.

Meanwhile the lobby fodder in the Lib Dem ranks - with the honourable exceptions of the principled but barmy Jan Clein, the intelligent and principled Stuart Monkcom, and the fully-detached Beatrice Fraenkel who all abstained - have all voted in their unthinking hordes for Bradley's "I am a victim" 'hearts and flowers speech.

So they are all culpable in this disgraceful and disgusting cover-up of Bradley's dishonesty, ineptitude and stupidity.

And they are complicit in his attempts to blame the innocent for his own guilt.

Unbelievably. the Lib Dems were all apparently overcome and moved to tears by Storeyteller's entirely vacuous but passionate defence of 'nothing very much in particular except us Lib Dems are frightfully good chaps and you Labour people are terribly uncouth plebs'.

They are consistent fools, if nothing else.

This now is the truth (and we are being charitable here, eds):

No one doubts that Warren Bradley is an engaging politician.

No one doubts that he loves his family.

No one doubts that he never asked to become Leader.

But that is not the point.

At first, people gave him credit for his refreshing naivety and his endearing reaction of blurting out the first thing that came into his head.

Then that became a habit - like a schoolboy pinching apples.

Then, as things started to go wrong, it turned into a way of life - he found it easier to tell lies than to tell the truth; to cover up and mislead rather than to come clean.

None of that might have mattered, too much.

Until he started telling lies which destroyed innocent people's careers .

And threatened to damage innocent journalists's reputations.

That was when he started to run out of time.

And excuses.

Bradley has behaved disgracefully and arrogantly.

He can't help himself.

He has lied and cheated and mislead.

He has let down himself.

Let down his family.

Let down his party.

Most of all, he has let down Liverpool. And brought the city into disrepute.

It is now time for the foolish Fireman to go.

MATHEW ST SENSATION: WORLD EXCLUSIVE: LEE FORDE BLOWS THE WHISTLE ON BRADLEY AND STOREY'S PLOT TO OUST THE HARBARROWBOY

MATHEW ST scapegoat Lee Forde has blown the whistle on a conspiracy by Fireman Bradley and Storeyteller to oust bungling Culture chief Jason Harbarrowboy.

Forde has compiled an astonishingly detailed and shocking dossier which reveals how:

• Bradley emailed Forde a day after the Mathew Street report was published


• After blaming Forde for the Mathew St debacle, a desperate Bradley had the gall to then beg him for a meeting to discuss 'next steps'


• Bradley disowned his council's own offical Mathew Street report - after supporting it publicly


• At a secret meeting on Sunday in Bradley's home in Wavertree, the council leader was joined by partner in crime, former council leader Mike Storey.


• The pair of politicians then begged an astonished Forde to hand over to them confidential documents and emails to help them get rid of the Harbarrowboy!


• A shocked and horrified Forde decided to expose the pathetic pair for their dishonest, unscrupulous and immoral plotting.
  

The Forde dossier - which runs to 15 extremely readable and gripping pages - has now been deposited with the Daily Post and the Liverpool Echo, whose heavily censored versions you will be able to read tomorrow (if you can be arsed, eds).

But the full, glorious text of the dossier is now being reproduced here in yet another World Exclusive for the Liverpool subCulture blog.

And, we can reveal, Labour Leader Joe Anderson has already reported Bradley and Storey to the Standards Board and demanded a full-scale investigation into their plot and their shocking behaviour. We believe the Lib Dem pair have shown, in their disgusting treatment of Forde and their attempt to manipulate him for their own ends, that they are unfit to govern the great city of Liverpool.

Lee Forde, on the other hand, has consistently shown tremendous strength of character, a formidable determination to clear his name and admirable honesty, principle and integrity.

The Harbarrowboy of course, may take temporary comfort from Bradley and Storey being shopped trying to do him in. But, rest assured dear readers, the Harbarrowboy's days are well and truly numbered - and will be over very quickly indeed.

Bradley's 'pissed-off' emails to Forde can be found on a separate post on the aptly-named City of the Dead blog.

Liverpool deserves better - why Lee Forde blew the whistle on Bradley and Storey is on your left.

Part 2 of the 15-page report, which includes new email evidence about Mathew Street, will follow shortly (well, we need a glass or two of bubbly first to celebrate, eds)

So pull up a seat, settle down and read, in Lee Forde's own words, how the city of Liverpool's Lib Dem leadership are a couple of lying, cheating, dishonest bastards....

The Background

“Out of the blue on Sunday afternoon (November 18th), I received five separate e-mails from Councillor Warren Bradley, leader of Liverpool city council.
The emails, virtually identical, had all been sent on Saturday in the space of three minutes from his private email address. Each of the emails asked for a meeting with me regarding the Mathew Street report which had been published two days earlier.
I was absolutely stunned by this approach from the Leader of the Council - the last time I had seen him was two days before, as he gave numerous interviews to the press, radio and TV in support of the findings of the city council’s report into Mathew Street. I had not expected to ever hear again from someone who had publicly condemned me so unfairly.
I was still extremely angry both about the publication of the council report and the Leader of the Council’s own comments in support of the report, which had questioned both my professionalism and my integrity. I had been blamed for the cancellation of the Festival – even though I was innocent.
Since Friday, I had been attacked by the full weight of the council machine, which had deployed considerable staff and resources to try and trash my reputation.
Its report was a complete whitewash and a disgraceful cover-up of the true circumstances which had lead to the decision by the Culture Company chief executive, Jason Harborow and city council chief executive Colin Hilton to cancel the Mathew Street festival in early August 2007, almost three months after I had submitted my resignation as Events Manager with the city council.
I had done all within my power over a period of almost a year previously to repeatedly notify my superiors in the Culture Company of the problems in staging the Mathew Street festival in 2007, as a result of the loss of the Pier Head and big cuts in funding.
I knew too that Councillor Bradley had been aware of these difficulties and my strenuous attempts to try and save the Festival. This information was noticeably absent from the council report, which had taken almost three months to produce and which had been drastically amended at the Leader of the Council’s insistence.
As a former employee, I was a convenient scapegoat, while the real culprits escaped.
Once my shock and surprise at seeing the emails had subsided on the Sunday afternoon, I agreed to Councillor Bradley’s invitation to meet, although I informed a number of people in advance. I decided that I had nothing to lose from a meeting - I wanted to find out what ‘next steps’ referred to and what his motive was.
I also intended to use the opportunity to press my case for the council’s report to be retracted and for me to be given a public apology.
Through text messages, I arranged with Councillor Bradley to go to his home on Sunday evening.
Ironically, the first and last time I had been to his home was in early August, when he had asked me to put together a rescue plan for the cancelled Mathew Street Festival, while I was serving my notice.” (See later emails)

The Meeting

Date: Sunday 18th November, 2007 - two days after the publication of the city council’s Mathew Street Report.
Venue: Councillor Warren Bradley’s home in Wavertree.
Present: Lee Forde, former Events manager, Liverpool Culture Company; Councillor Warren Bradley, Leader of Liverpool city council; Councillor Mike Storey, Executive Member for Regeneration and Liverpool’s 800th Birthday celebrations.

“I arrived at Councillor Bradley’s house, slightly later than we had arranged, at about 8.20pm on 18th November. I must have been a bit agitated because I had got lost several times and had to phone him to get directions. I was feeling very nervous – I did not know what to expect, or what I was walking into.
I was greeted at the front door by Councillor Bradley who shook my hand, called me ‘mate’ and ushered me inside. He thanked me for coming and offered me a drink – tea, coffee or a beer. I told him I would feel better with a beer and he fetched me a bottle of Peroni.
When he returned, he told me he had also invited Councillor Storey to attend and asked if I “was alright with that?” I told him I had nothing to hide.
Councillor Bradley explained that his wife Pauline had already gone to fetch Councillor Storey in their car.
At this stage, although outwardly calm, I was confused and completely gob-smacked at the turn of events. I could not fathom Councillor Bradley’s motive for the meeting. Nor did he immediately explain the purpose of the meeting.
While my mind raced, I could not help observe to myself that the Leader of the Council had not yet had the good grace to apologise for his role in the publication of a biased council report which had caused me, my family, my friends and colleagues so much personal upset by trying to damage my professional reputation and integrity.
Councillor Bradley then asked me how I was and mentioned that he had ‘felt sorry’ for me on Friday when, as he was giving interviews to the media at Liverpool Town Hall, he had seen me standing outside.
I had been trying to defend my reputation and integrity to the media after he had helped attack them. Councillor Bradley said he really ‘felt’ for me. This was the closest he ever came to apologising for his conduct and for the council’s report.
Just as Councillor Bradley began to explain how ‘disappointed’ he was with the report’s findings – although he had not expressed this to the media at the time - Councillor Storey arrived.
Councillor Bradley invited Councillor Storey to join us in having a beer and left the room to fetch a bottle. I and other colleagues had been told that the two men had fallen out some months before, but they appeared to be on good terms. While Councillor Bradley was out of the room, Councillor Storey asked me how I was. I told him, with some understatement, that “I have felt better” and how disappointed I had been with the council’s report.
Councillor Bradley returned and explained to Councillor Storey that he had invited me around to discuss the report’s findings, as he was unhappy with them.
Again, I wondered why he had not expressed this unhappiness to the media when he had the opportunity?
Councillor Storey (now in terrified hiding below, eds) volunteered that he had spoken to me recently and understood that I still wanted to be involved in events in Liverpool. I was not sure of the relevance of this observation.
Councillor Storey then observed that it was “ironic” that I had been attacked in the council’s report as “Lee was responsible for transforming Mathew Street from a disorganised event to a national Festival.”
Councillor Bradley immediately agreed and observed that he felt the report identified the wrong people as being responsible for the cancellation of the Festival.
I was very angry. I told him that I felt the council’s report was “full of lies”, fatally flawed and fundamentally wrong. I had been scape-goated even though I had been a loyal servant of the city, had never played any political games and had done everything to the best of my ability.
Councillor Bradley asked me why I thought the event had been cancelled.
I thought this was a bizarre question for the Leader of the Council to suddenly ask - his own council had spent three months investigating what had happened and had just published its findings! To me, it showed he had no confidence in the report and was now effectively dis-owning it. This came too late for me of course - I had been publicly attacked by his council on Friday.
I told him that the Festival had been cancelled because of poor management by senior officers of the Culture Company who had failed to replace me when I had resigned three months earlier. They had never taken Mathew St seriously and didn’t realise the value of the event and how much people in Liverpool felt about it.
I also informed Councillor Bradley that, on at least two previous occasions, Culture Company Operations Director, Chris Green had told me and members of my Events team that he would be pleased if Mathew Street was cancelled as he could use the budget elsewhere.
I told Councillor Bradley that I had been shocked when I first heard Mathew Street had been cancelled. I had not expected it.
I reminded him that at his request in early August, I had tried to put together a rescue plan to get Mathew Street back on track but that the Chief Executive of the city council, Colin Hilton had abruptly refused to allow me to go ahead. I still did not understand why he had done this.
I pointed out the obvious - that far from being responsible for the cancellation of Mathew Street - I was the one who had done all in my power to try and save it.
I told him that I had been placed in ‘an impossible situation’ because of the battle between Culture Company chief exec, Jason Harborow and Councillor Storey over funding.
I was the ‘piggy in the middle’. There had been an attempt to ‘strip the budgets out’ – reduce the funding for Mathew Street - to prevent Councilllor Storey from getting what he wanted.
I also reminded both men that I had been replaced at meetings by Mr Harborow and that the Culture Company Steering Group regularly arranged pre-meetings in order, it seemed to me, to ensure only certain information was passed to Councillor Storey.
I said that during April, while trying to sort out the problems with Mathew St, I had also been producing the major Son et Lumiere event to celebrate Liverpool’s 8ooth birthday. This was a week-long event which Councillors Bradley and Storey had both wanted and which had forced an extremely damaging £100,000 cut in the Mathew St budget. Councillor Bradley asked me how many tickets had been sold for the Son et Lumiere shows. It had been a virtual sell-out - two shows a night for seven days, attracting between 5-6,000 people. Councillor Bradley asked where the proceeds had gone from ticket sales. I was surprised that he apparently did not know the established procedure for Culture Company ticket sales.
I explained that the tickets, which were priced at £2.50 each, had been sold through the 08 Place and Liverpool Direct (LDL). Originally LDL had wanted to charge the Culture Company an administration fee, per ticket, of £2.70. In other words, the cost of admin would have been higher than the ticket price itself.
The Culture Company had therefore agreed that LDL could take all the proceeds from ticket sales as their admin fee. Both Councillor Bradley and Councillor Storey appeared genuinely shocked. I was astonished that they appeared so out of touch and ignorant of what was going on.
Councillor Bradley then asked me if I had any information that would prove senior people in the Culture Company were involved in events leading up to the cancellation of Mathew Street.
He said: “Is there anything you can get us, to get rid of Harborow? To get him out? He must have been involved in it - although the report exonerates him.”
Councillor Bradley also asked if I could access Mr Harborow’s leave records – I assumed that he believed Mr Harborow was taking more holidays than he was entitled to.
I told Councillor Bradley that I had given a huge amount of information - in the form of emails and other documents - to the council’s inquiry, which had been ignored.
I had compiled a dossier as part of my claim for constructive dismissal which was now with my legal advisor. It would come out in public when a hearing took place.
I explained that I was also currently in negotiations with the council, through ACAS. If an out of court settlement was reached, the documents might be made available. I was non-committal about this – I needed to think it through – but told them I would consult my solicitor.
As I sat in Councillor Bradley’s living room sipping my beer, I remember being completely astonished that, two days after the council had tried to destroy my own reputation, the Leader of the Council and the former Leader of the Council were now trying to involve me in a conspiracy to remove the chief executive of the Culture Company.
I was shocked that such underhand dealings could go on. It seemed to be political skulduggery of the worst kind. I have never been involved in anything remotely like this at all before. Something was clearly seriously wrong and I felt extremely uncomfortable. I felt as though my integrity was being compromised and that undue pressure for information was now being placed upon me by people who had already once tried to destroy my reputation.
I did not have an axe to grind with anyone – I had resigned because I did not believe that Mathew Street could be delivered safely for the allocated budget and that the public were being put at risk. Now I was being drawn into something else - a conspiracy. I felt I was being used to try and get rid of someone and that there was a good chance that, if their plan ever went wrong, I would again be hung out to dry as the perpetrator. Neither Councillor Bradley nor Storey had been truthful and honest with me before – after Mathew St was cancelled, Councillor Bradley told me he was going to ensure that the council report would not blame me. He had not kept that promise, even though I had tried to rescue Mathew St.
On reflection now, I believe they must have both thought I was a complete ‘sucker’ and soft touch and that they could drag me into their conspiracy to get rid of Jason Harborow.
But at the time, I was a bit bewildered, totally confused and had extremely mixed emotions - I must have been in a state of profound shock.
Councillor Bradley then questioned me about a number of matters concerning Mr Harborow and Mathew Street and also asked what I knew about a company called Solutions and if Jason Harborow was involved with them.
I told him that Mr Harborow had told me that ‘Solutions’ – a merchandising company - were friends of his and that he had worked with them in the past.
I told the councillors that Solutions were now a preferred supplier to the city council. This meant that we had to use their services, even if we could get the same or similar goods cheaper from elsewhere – there was a general understanding about this within the Culture Company.
Councillor Storey remarked: “It’s just like Liverpool Direct.” I understood him to mean by this that he thought it was a corrupt or suspect arrangement, although I personally do not know of any evidence for this.
I finally agreed that I would look and see if I had any other documentation about Mr Harborow. I left the meeting after almost two hours and we tentatively agreed to meet again.
The following morning, Monday 19th November, I telephoned Councillor Bradley and informed him that I had consulted legal advice and was unable to release any documents to anyone unless and until my case was satisfactorily settled.
I the undersigned, Lee Forde, declare this to be a true and faithful account of my meeting on Sunday November 18th, 2007 with Liverpool Council leader Cllr Warren Bradley and Regeneration leader Cllr Mike Storey.

Lee Forde

WORLD EXCLUSIVE - MATHEW ST EMAIL SENSATION : THEY ALL KNEW SIX MONTHS BEFORE!

CITY council leader Warren Bradley, birthday boy Mike Storey, chief executive Colin Hilton and Culture boss Jason Harborow all knew about the problems with Mathew Street at least SIX MONTHS before it was cancelled.

That is clear from a confidential email which, for some strange reason, was not included in the council's controversial and officially tampered-with report.

The email, written on February 28th, is by Culture Company Operations Director Chris Green to the Harbarrowboy.

It concerns the fateful meeting on February 21st when Green met with Fireman Bradley, Story-teller and CoverUp to update all three on Mathew Street.

Green explains to Harbarrowboy that the cost of the new outdoor event Storey wanted - Son et Lumiere - had risen to £160,000 and that the budget for Mathew Street would need to be cut by £100,000, as a result.

Green then tells the Harbarrowboy:

"Given that the closure of the Pier Head had already introduced logistical problems for operating Mathew Street at the same scale as previous years..."

So Harbarrow was obviously in the loop and knew that there were problems with staging Mathew Street again this year.

Green then outlines a re-vamped proposal for Mathew Street,which has been cut by £100,000.

Green says:

"This idea was presented to Warren Bradley, Colin Hilton and Mike Storey on 21 Feb and was not accepted. Warren and Mike felt strongly that we needed to find a way to run Mathew Street on Saturday and Sunday as well as Monday/Tuesday."

In other words, both Bradley and Storey were adamant that, despite the budget being cut by £100,000, Mathew Street should not be reduced from four days to a two day festival, as Green had proposed.

Fireman Bradley of course told the world that the first he knew of any problems with Mathew Street was when Hilton phoned him on holiday in July.

Not true Fireman.

Both CoverUp and the Fireman were at the same meeting in February when the problems were raised and proposals for reducing Mathew Street were put forward.

But according to Green's email, both the Fireman and Story-teller insisted that the Festival should go ahead as they wanted, despite them having cut the budget.

The email - which is reproduced in full below, demonstrates that both Bradley, Storey and Hilton too, have repeatedy and outrageously lied about their knowledge and involvement in the Mathew Street debacle.

The Harbarrowboy responds by promising Green that he will raise the issue at EMT - the city council's Executive Management Team which is chaired by Hilton, who reports to Bradley.

Perhaps Jase forgot to raise it?

Or perhaps Hilton was hiding under his desk with cotton wool stuffed into his ears?

Perhaps CoverUp had a severe attack of laryngitis and could not speak to Bradley about it for six months?

Perhaps someone could ask for the minutes of the EMT?

You may also find it strange, dear readers, that this email exchange is not included in the official report?

Why do you think it has not been included?

Perhaps the Gang of Four are suggesting that Green, who has since quit of course, is really the liar and that his email is a complete fabrication?

But what motive would he have to lie?

He wrote his email six months ago.

It is a contemporaneous account of what happened - as opposed to the convenenient memory loss apparently suffered now by Bradley, Storey, Hilton and Harbarrow.

This is the truth:

All four of them knew about the problems at least six months before Mathew Street was cancelled.

All four of them knew that the budget cuts had compounded the problems.

All four of them have repeatedly and consistently lied about their knowledge and involvement.

All four of them - because they are disgraceful , dishonourable and sickening cowards - have sought to blame Lee Forde for what went wrong.

Lee Forde is the one who has told the truth.

Lee Forde is the only man who has acted honourably.

And Lee Forde is the one who is now being scapegoated by these bastards.

Here is the email: Judge for yourselves.

-----Original Message-----

From: Harborow, Jason

Sent: 02 March 2007 00:06

To: Green, Chris

Cc: Forde, Lee

Subject: Re: MATHEW STREET FESTIVAL

I will raise at EMT

Jason Harborow

Chief Executive

Liverpool Culture Company

PO Box 2008

Municipal Buildings

Dale Street

Liverpool

L2 2DH

Tel: + 44 (0) 151 233 5441

Fax: + 44 (0) 151 233 6333

Web: www.liverpool08.com/www.liverpool.gov.uk<http://www.liverpool08.com/www.liverpool.gov.uk>Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008

----- Original Message -----

From: Green, Chris

To: Harborow, Jason

Cc: Forde, Lee

Sent: Wed Feb 28 11:31:01 2007

Subject: MATHEW STREET FESTIVAL

Jas,

I've reviewed the overall events budget and the operational options with Lee and the following is a statement of where we stand.

Do you want this to be put to the Strategic Steering group this week?

In the planning for 'one off' events for 2007 in the second half of lastyear we started to look at the feasibility of a major public event duringthe week commencing 23 April. The steering group agreed that we should progress the idea of a week long 'Son et Lumiere' event, the initial cost for which was estimated at c £70k. This was not in the year's budgets.

A more accurate costing has since produced a budget need for £160k.

This wasreported to the Mike Storey and he asked us to try to find a way of re-allocating budgets so that we could pay for this event and an increase in the budgets for the Pageant and Squares activity on 28th August.

Following the budget review at the Culture Co Awayday on 14th Feb all of the Events Budgets for 2007 had been reviewed and where possible savings made.

However, the only substantial budgets where significant savings were feasible were:

Mathew St Festival £500k

August 28th Fireworks £375k

Police Costs £250k

Given that the closure of the Pier Head had already introduced logistical problems for operating Mathew Street at the same scale as previous years, it was provisionally agreed that for 2007 Mathew St Festival could consist of five stages in and around the City Centre on Monday 27th August, with two ofthose stages being retained for the 'party' on Tuesday 28th August.

This would produce an estimated saving of £100k, which together with smaller scale savings fro some other event budgets would fund the 'Son et Lumiere'event.

This idea was presented to Warren Bradley, Colin Hilton and Mike Storey on 21 Feb and was not accepted.

Warren and Mike felt strongly that we needed to find a way to run Mathew Street on Saturday and Sunday as well asMonday/Tuesday.

Lee and I believe that if Mathew St is to remain in the City Centre there are only two realistic options and with both of these options there will still be a significant number of other agencies required to approve this before we go ahead.

Option 1

Two stages on Mann Island/the Strand for Saturday Sunday and Monday,increasing to five with the addition of Derby Square, Dale St and Williamson Square for Monday and the retention of the Derby and Williamson Square stages for Tuesday.

The main logistical issue here is the closing of the Strand for three days,which the police have already intimated will be objected to - not least byGrosvenor.

This would not produce any cost saving on the budget of £500k.

Option 2

A stage on St George's Plateau for Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday,with additional stages on the Strand and Derby Square for the Monday; DerbySquare to be retained for the Tuesday as well.

The main logistical issue with this option is that the capacity of St George's Plateau would be limited and it may require the closure of Lime Street at some times - this was objected to by Merseytravel last year.

This is unlikely to produce any saving on the budget of £500k.

We have looked at a third option where we operate MSF through indoor venues across the City on Saturday and Sunday and have the five stages as per Option 1 for the Monday, reducing to two on Tuesday 28th August.

However, this would require significant increase in admin effort to organise and ticket the events in venues and we do not believe the capacities exist in venues.

All bar venues already operate at full capacity and programme activity.

In terms of the major venues the only exception last year I think were the Royal Court and RLPO who in themselves would not produce enough capacity to deal with the expected crowds.

Conclusion

We have not been able to identify an option which would allow the festival to operate for 3 days and produce the saving needed to cover the costs of the Son et Lumiere event.

The only option therefore appears to be to reduce the budget for fireworks on the 28th August. However, this would undoubtedly create a serious PR issue if we were not seen to undertake a decent display.

Chris Green

Operations Director

Liverpool Culture Company

PO Box 2008

Municipal Buildings

Dale Street

Liverpool

L2 2DH

Tel: +44 (0) 151 233 1106

Fax: +44 (0) 151 233 6333

Mobile: + 44 (0) 7841 295 254

Web: http://www.liverpool08.com/ <http://www.liverpool08.com/>

Liverpool - European Capital of Culture 2008

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. Thank you

MATHEW STREET COVER UP CAPTION COMPETITION

Our picture shows the Four Tops - a defiant Lee Forde, a supportive Matt Finnegan, an astonished David Bartlett (DPost) and a world-weary Larry Neild (DPost/Radio City Talk) outside the Town Hall after the city council's sensational cover-up.

A ticket to the Mathew Street Festival 2008 for the best picture caption...

DAVID VERSUS GOLIATH: AN ASTONISHING SPECTACLE

And so it came to pass....

Congratulations firstly to Lee Forde for a brave and principled stand in the great traditions of David versus Goliath.

The shocked and angry expression on the face of Fireman Bradley today, as the media clustered around the city's former Events chief, was truly a delight to behold.

For some obscure reason, the Fireman and his accomplices, Story-teller and Cover Up, seemed to have forgotten that Lee Forde is a true son of the city.

Ie: he will take no shit from anyone.

These three powerful men resorted to secrecy, smears and lies to try and trash the reputation of one of the city's decent public servants.

They failed.

Mr Forde's reputation is today intact - because he employed weapons of truth, honesty and courage to defend himself.

A guilty man does not stand outside Liverpool Town Hall inviting the media to interrogate him.

A guilty man acts like Warren Bradley, hiding in the Town Hall and hurriedly scuttling away from the scene of his crimes.

(Or a guilty man swings in his hammock, munching ice creams and murmuring 'manana', eds)

Storey-teller, who has a streak of cowardice a foot wide running down the entire length of his missing spine, was, of course, nowhere to be seen at today's festivities.

Even though it was his £100,000 cut in the budget which prompted the entire Mathew Street debacle in the first place. Disgraceful.

Colin CoverUp, meekly cowering behind his desk in the MO like a third rate bureaucrat, was protesting that the Mathew Street Inquiry Report was "the Leader's report, not the city councils." What a weasel.

In a sense, however, CoverUp is correct. The inquiry report was not an official city council report at all.

It was a freelance work of fiction.

In terms of the extraordinarily inappropriate language used, its juvenile sniping tone, disgraceful manipulation of the facts and wholsesale misrepresentation of the evidence, it owed more to a dog-eared airport paperback, than an official report on behalf of Merseyside's biggest public body.

Of course, the report had been delayed for three months partly to allow Fireman Bradley and the Storyteller to hire hands from the PR world to re-write and spin it.

Contemptible.

It was an exercise in wholesale character assassination and scapegoating the like of which we have never seen in Liverpool before.

Neither Bradley, Storey, Hilton or the Harbarrowboy (laughing all the way to the bank in his Spanish hacienda, eds) were to blame for Mathew Street. It was all little Lee Forde's fault.

So outside Liverpool Town Hall today, it was, literally, David versus Goliath.

When is the great city of Liverpool ever going to have a civic leadership which is prepared to step forward and take responsibility for its actions?

With this gutless shower of Lib Dems? Never.

And now a word or two about our friends in the media....

(Here we go, eds)

The cancellation of Mathew Street was one of the worst public relations disasters - and most costly blunders - experienced by Liverpool for a generation.

But it was also the visible culmination of a catalogue of mismanagement, incompetence and stupidity from the Culture Company.

This organisation has been a shambles for the city ever since Sir Diddy hatched its misbegotten birth.

Nothing new here for the papers, then.

We simply ask of the media, especially our friends at the craven Echo: "Why did you not focus on the little man, the David battling the city council Goliath with all its huge resources, power and corruption?

"Why did you lazily and meekly reproduce the discredited conclusions of an obviously tampered report -and not give equal space to the accused?

"Why are you so far up yourselves, that you cannot see what is being done in the name, unbelievably, of local democracy in your own city?"

Timewasters.

What was news today was the truly shocking spectacle of Liverpool's current political and managerial leadership openly and cynically trying to shift the blame for Mathew Street onto the innocent.

These men have no shame. No conscience. No integrity.

Morally bankrupt. Emotionally vacant. Politically inept.

And, we vow, you won't escape that easily....

MATHEW STREET SENSATION: STORYTELLER THREATENS TO SUE CITY IF SECRET REPORT IS PUBLISHED

FORMER city council leader Mike Storey is threatening legal action to prevent the secret Mathew Street report being published.

Storey-teller has told the city council he will sue if they make the report available.

Why?

Because it is Storey who has been fingered by the report for giving the go-ahead for £150,000 to be cut from the Mathew Street budget.

The finger is also pointing at him for being present at a meeting with the Harbarrowboy when he was told the event would have to be cancelled.

Labour Leader Joe Anderson has already established that as far back as last November, Storey was warning that the Mathew Street Festival might need to be moved from the city centre to Sefton Park.

He was the least surprised person in the city when the Harbarrowboy gave Mathew Street the chop.

The secret report is amazingly now in the hands of an incredibly expensive top QC at Fireman Bradley's insistence.

It apparently makes it clear that Storey is ultimately responsible for cancelling Mathew Street.

So now the great Cover-up by Colin has become crystal clear (shome mistake, shurely? eds)

Chief executive Hilton has been protecting the Lib Dems from another monumental political disaster.

If the report is published it will immediately become clear that Storey-teller is heavily implicated in the Mathew Street debacle.

Storey would have to resign both as the city's regeneration boss and 700th Birthday Boy.

It would be a second political humiliation from which he could never recover.

And he would probably have to also go as a city councillor (Sir Diddy must be loving this, eds)

His resignation would be a hammer blow to the Fireman's credibility - Bradley has given constant preferment to Storey, who has always been his political mentor.

And it would be another astonishing political defeat for the deflated Lib Dems.

To misquote the immortal Oscar Wilde, losing Storey once may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose him a second time looks like carelessness....