Saturday, November 25, 2006

ANDERSON CALLS ON COPS TO INVESTIGATE MCELHINNEY

LABOUR Leader Joe Anderson is asking police to investigate what went on with McElhinney's Liverpool Direct Limited.
He has written to Chief Constable Bernard Hogan Howe after the secret report by independent auditors, KPMG made 37 separate recommendations for changes in the way the city council deals with LDL.
Chief executive, Colin 'Cover Up' Hilton has already agreed to implement all 37 recommendations, admitting that LDL has cost city council taxpayers millions of pounds.
But he is still refusing to make the full report public.
Anderson has asked the police to examine why no action was taken by the city council when he first raised questions about the way LDL was being run more than three years ago.
He has specifically asked Hogan Howe to look at the circumstances surrounding the level of charges imposed by Liverpool Direct, under the direction of chief executive Dr David McElhinney (the Liverpool rottweiller).
In particular Anderson is rightly concerned about the £200 PER INDIVIDUAL PHONE CALL charge made by LDL for handling education grant enquiries from the public.
This astronomical fee for every single phone call was imposed after the council's utter cock-up over handling education grants.
Interestingly enough, of course, Hilton was in charge of Education at this time. He agreed the charge.
Anderson is also keen to discover exactly how many millions (to the nearest £100,000 would do, ed) the contract with LDL has actually cost the city council's taxpayers.
His intervention is particularly interesting since, as well as Hilton, it also points the finger very firmly at former chief executive, Sir Diddy Henshaw and the smiling assassin, Halsall as well as former council Leader, Mike Storey.
They were all on the same watch when McElhinney was ripping off millions from the city council.
Why the cabalists should not be held individually accountable for the huge sums of public money lost by their incompetence, greed or corruption, (or all three, ed) is the question which no-one has yet answered, of course.
PS The rottweiller's poodle, the highly strung Councillor Marilyn Fielding (trained observers will notice that she is also a blonde, ed) seems to have escaped everyone's attention in the LDL scandal. This is surprising since she was the Executive Member responsible. She was, of course, busily concentrating instead on making moon faces at her beloved McElhinney, who could do and say no wrong in her eyes, while he ripped off millions behind her back. Council taxpayers should send demands for their money back to Counc Marilyn Fielding, c/o Municipal Buildings, Dale Street, Liverpool. Dr David McElhinney

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Whitewash at The 08 Place

THE city council's internal report into The 08 Place has given the go-ahead for private firms to lobby senior council officers about lucrative contracts.
The report says there is "nothing wrong" in them making such contact.
It also admits that the thieving rottweiller, McElhinney did not tell the truth to councillors about The 08 Place contract.
But charitably, arrogantly and unbelievably naively, it concludes:
"there is no evidence that the statement was made knowing it to be untrue and in order to mislead."
The report, by bald legal eagle, Michael Kenworthy reluctantly admits that it was "not good practice" for Chas Cole's CMP Entertainment to instruct council contractors about fitting out the Culture one-stop shop.
In other words, the council now believes that a private company should not give orders to council workmen about fitting out its own offices with posher lights than normal, better carpets, more expensive decorations and fitments etc, etc. (It's certainly immensely re-assuring that the city council have now very firmly drawn the line at that unthinkable state of affairs ever possibly happening, ed. Just who the hell is in charge of this amateur outfit?)
Drawing himself up to his full 5 foot 8 inches, Kenworthy positively oozes smug pomposity, self-importance and arrogance as he concludes: "Any reasonably (sic) minded members of the public will accept that the matter has been dealt with properly by the Council, CMP and the Audit Commission."
(Oh no we won't, ed)
And anyway, quite what the findings of a council report has got to do with a private company like CMP, or why the council should now be bending over backwards to defend a private company like CMP, is beyond us. (Kenworthy has typically over-reached himself, ed)
We are ignoring the Audit Commission completely since they were fast asleep on the job when McElhinney was ripping off the council for millions on behalf of Liverpool Direct.

Kenworthy's report is:
  • silent on McElhinney, Halsall and Cole's close relationship
  • silent on the specific allegation about them running together in the New York marathon
  • silent on Halsall's son's band appearing at the Summer Pops and of course it is also
  • silent on the amount of free car parking and the rent free period given to CMP by McElhinney as part of the deal.
The report is also highly selective - it:
  • fails to reveal that former council leader Mike Storey presented the report to Colin Cover Up (why? ed)
  • fails to include any evidence from the city council's surveyors 20/20 (why? ed)
  • fails to detail Henshaw's secret role in covering up the terms of the deal (why? ed) and
  • fails to provide any evidence for its glib conclusions.

In other words it is the most servile, complicit and complacent cover-up imaginable. The cabal will be laughing like drains.
Kenworthy is either gullible or a fool. (Probably both, ed)
He says, for example, astonishingly:

"Given CMP's historical (sic) connection with the city's Summer Pops (he means Chas Cole's relationship with the smiling assassin, Halsall ed) and inevitable contact with senior officers of the council (two in particular, of course, Halsall and McElhinney, ed) it should not have been surprising to anyone that the lessee (CMP) should have tried to use those contacts..."

Really?
Oh, that's okay then. Fair enough. We will keep quiet in future about private contractors trying to use their contacts with senior council officers to win a better deal. Nothing wrong with that - they should be able to wine and dine them, take them to the villa in Marbella, arrange trips to New York.
Do they think we are all bonkers? Is Kenworthy certifiably insane?
Kenworthy goes on to say the free parking and rent free period for The 08 Place was agreed by 20/20. He fails to explain why they actually gave completely different advice and, in emails, officially expressed surprise at the terms of the deal. Why?
He admits that McElhinney gave the wrong information to the Select Committee about work on The 08 Place - but doesn't say McElhinney wrongly told councillors work had ceased and then failed to correct that information. (So that's ok then, McElhinney can lie all he likes in the future, too. Presumably he has not aplogised to councillors for misleading them either? ed)
It also claims that McElhinney was 'very clear' that no works should continue on The 08 Place beyond the £900,000 figure approved by the council.
So why did McElhinney fail to tell councillors that work was continuing beyond that amount?
Kenworthy says there is no evidence that McElhinney acted inappropriately or had any pecuniary interest in the transaction. (What investigations did he conduct to examine that interest then? ed)
Kenworthy finally asks us to rely on the assurances given by the Chief Executive(s) (the greedy blackmailer Henshaw and Colin Cover Up, ed).
He must be joking.
His report is based on ('trust me, I'm the very important Acting City Solicitor) mere assertion, with no evidence whatsoever adduced to support his conclusions. If he says it, it must be true.
I don't think so, bald eagle.
Crucially Kenworthy's report does not explain why the cost of The 08 Place soared from £900,000 to £1.4million. Half a million pounds of public money down the drain.
Nor does it apologise for that massive increase.
Nor does it explain what steps have been taken to prevent the same situation happening again.
Nor does it call for the appropriate distance to be observed between council officers with control of lucrative contracts and the bosses of private firms.
It is the most specious, superficial and condescending report produced by the city council in a long time.
And it now proves, without any question, just who is really in charge of Liverpool city council.

NB Contrary to the craven Echo's incorrect story last night, the report does not even deal with the allegations concerning Liverpool Direct Limited. (Spin gone into overdrive again, methinks, ed)

Dr David McElhinney

Thursday, November 16, 2006

SUBCULTURE EDITORIAL: WHY THE COVER UP, COLIN?

HEAR NO EVIL, SEE NO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL

Chief executive Colin Hilton has steadfastly refused to bring anyone to justice over the mis-rule of Henshaw's evil cabal.

But why the cover-up?
We now know that back in March 2006, a dossier of evidence supplied by whistleblowers was presented by former leader Mike Storey to Hilton and new leader, Councillor Warren Bradley.
This evidence concerned amongst other things, The 08 Place, The Summer Pops, the Kensington One Stop Shop and various other supplementary matter
The Head of the council's Internal Audit department, Gerry Callaghan ran panic-stricken from that confidential meeting to tell all to Exec Director Halsall, aka the smiling assassin, who in turn alerted The Liverpool Rottweiller, McElhinney.
So what did Hilton do in response to the serious issues which had been officially reported to him, by a senior councillor on behalf of the council whistleblowers?
First of all he refused to take any action against Callaghan for breaching a confidential meeting and compromising an internal investigation.
And even though he had discussed with Storey and Bradley calling in the police to investigate the allegations and concerns raised, Hilton then refused to take any further action involving the cops.
Instead he relied on a tame internal audit report which Callaghan, under the direction of Halsall, had hastily compiled which whitewashed the whole thing.
But Hilton did call in external auditors KPMG to mount a detailed investigation, including examining Bradley's increasing concerns about the way McElhinney had been running Liverpool Direct Limited.
  • Amongst the issues which have been repeatedly raised are the £200 cost of handling phone calls charged by McElhinney's LDL to the council's Education department.
  • The £12,000 annual cost of providing one single LDL computer to one single councillor. (This was what LDL charged to all 90 of the city's councillors, making them the most expensive computers in the universe).
  • The constant office moves which were ordered by McElhinney, shifting council staff from one building or floor to another, with crippling charges imposed for carrying out the removals.
  • Repeated double-counting of charges, fees and costs for a huge range of IT and other services.
  • Wilfully disguising the LDL pricing structure, so no-one could clearly see where all the money was going.
(Do you think the craven Echo might have investigated any of these? ed)
As LDL made hay with the money merry go round, Hilton allowed McElhinney to escape the council's clutches by transferring to become chief executive of the joint venture, Liverpool Direct Limited.
Are you with us, so far? (Every step of the way, ed)
So in other words the alarm had been loudly raised, but the householder then stood twiddling his thumbs and looking the other way, while allowing the burglar to escape with all the loot.
Then in desperation, the legendary Tony Parrish entered the fray, chucking in his grenade of the liverpoolevilcabal blog to blow apart what Hilton was determined to keep hidden (thank you, Tony).
This at least succeeded in forcing Bradley to ignore Hilton momentarily (while he was on holiday) and present the dossier (and further evidence) to the police.
And then everything
settled back to normal - Bradley ran out of steam, Hilton got back behind his desk and the cabalists escaped.
It is now clear that the police are unlikely to take any action against Henshaw, Halsall or McElhinney (who are jointly and individually responsible) unless Bradley is prepared to take matters much further.
(There now follows a lengthy ediorial aside: I have always wondered why Councillor Paul Clark's statement which showed Henshaw literally trying to blackmail the city council, could not be sent straight to the police. They would then have to talk to everyone involved and decide whether Henshaw had committed a criminal offence by demanding money with menaces. Then the whole thing would be blown open. Just a thought, ed)

All the signs are that Bradley has given up, is now backing Hilton's 'let's stay schtum', line and will keep his head down. For a quiet life.
So why won't Hilton hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil?
Ever since he was appointed, Hilton has told councillors that he wants to draw a line under the mis-rule of Henshaw's evil cabal.
"That was then, this is now," is how his public position can best be described.
Some observers may wonder then, why Hilton could justify continuing to pursue suspended media chief, Matt Finnegan who had been framed by the cabalists for supporting the Leader? (Good question, ed)
There are some other interesting explanations for Hilton's failure to act:
1) Loyalty to Henshaw who appointed him as Director of Education in the first place.
2) Loyalty to the cabalists who he had worked with for five years.
3) He went to the same school as Chas Cole and Halsall.
4) He did not want his first few years as chief executive to be dominated by the Henshaw mess, when Liverpool needed work.
5) He had no affection for Storey and was glad to see him go as Leader.
6) He had no affection for Finnegan and was glad to see him go.
7) He wanted Bradley to know who was boss, so there would be no question of another public battle between Leader and chief executive.
8) Taking action would only damage Liverpool and the Lib Dem administration.
9) McElhinney and Halsall both had some serious personal dirt on Hilton, which they threatened to throw at him.
10) Hilton is a boring technocrat who will do anything to avoid rocking the boat.
11) Hilton is a fully-paid up member of the officer class, with little commitment to old-fashioned notions such as democracy or justice and little respect for, or understanding of, politics and politicians. Sweeping everything under the carpet is his natural inclination.
No doubt readers will be able to offer up some of their own alternative explanations. The truth is probably that Colin has covered up for all of the above reasons.
What is not in doubt any longer is that there was serious mis-handling by the evil cabal of millions of pounds in public money, which Liverpool could ill afford to lose.
And no-one has been held accountable for that by Hilton, as guardian of the public purse, or by anyone else. The cabal have escaped scot-free. And in a democracy, that is not good government.

CONCLUSION:
  • Hilton's failure to take action against any individuals, in particular McElhinney and Halsall, shows other council officials that they can get away with anything they like. (In fact, both McElhinney and Halsall have been rewarded for the mis-use and loss of public money). The system can therefore be abused by senior officers with impunity. What future confidence can the people of Liverpool therefore now have in Hilton's integrity, or the city council's?
  • Public administration within the city has been brought into further disrepute. Everyone knows there has been a cover-up and that the cabal perpetrated disgraceful abuses of their power and positions which cost Liverpool millions. No action has been taken as a result. (The Harbarrowboy incident when he acted as a lobbyist for Cole demonstrated Hilton's complete lack of interest in rooting out corruption).
  • Politicians like Bradley, who despises the cabal, have been seriously undermined. Bradley can hardly start critiscising quangos in the city, when he can't even put his own house in order.
  • The city council can only exist with the goodwill and support of the people of Liverpool. Even though less than a third of us vote for councillors, there is a tacit acceptance of the city council as both a civic and legal entity. However, Hilton now appears to have condoned illegality and to have turned a blind eye to the abuse of trust which went on. Ironically, his failure has given even further credibility to the campaign for an elected mayor.
  • Any moral authority which the city council possessed has been destroyed. Why should someone who has not paid their council tax, submit to a demand from Halsall's department, when his mate, McElhinney has robbed the people of Liverpool of millions of pounds? And when Halsall has connived with, conspired with and condoned all that went on?
  • Why should anyone pay their parking fine to Liverpool Direct Limited, when its boss McElhinney continues to waste huge amounts of public money to feather his own nest?
  • The organisation of the city of Liverpool is now effectively morally bankrupt.
Ultimately this whole sorry saga can only bring greater cynicism about public life, public service, politics and politicians.

"They are all in it for themselves," people will shake their heads and say.

And who now will ever be able to contradict that view?

Certainly not Colin Hilton.

And perhaps that corrosive spread of cynicism is the biggest crime of all.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

STOP THIEF! MCELHINNEY AND THE JOINT VENTURE

HENSHAW'S rottweiller - Dr David McElhinney - is responsible for the systematic theft of public money from Liverpool for the last FIVE YEARS, it is now clear.
Millions of pounds were involved according to the city council's new chief executive, Colin Hilton.
Yet no action will be taken against McElhinney who continues to abuse his position as a public servant by installing a shower for his own personal use in his office.
It is also clear that the sensational allegations made against McElhinney on Tony Parrish's liverpoolevilcabal blog about the culture one stop shop, The 08 PLace and his friend, millionaire pop promoter Chas Cole, were just the tip of the iceberg.
They pale into insignificance compared to what has been uncovered by independent auditors, KPMG who have made 37 separate recommendations about the future conduct of council contracts with Liverpool Direct Limited, which is run by McElhinney.
The council contracts with LDL are worth an astonishing £520 million and cover services such as all staffing matters for the city council's 19,500 employees, car parking, revenues and benefits, grants and IT.
As chief exec of LDL, McElhinney is now in charge of all these, after quickly jumping ship from the city council when former Leader Mike Storey handed over a dossier of evidence against him.
Although the council are refusing to make their independent report public and have only come clean about the recommendations, it is now possible to piece together what was going on under the hated McElhinney.
  • Services provided by LDL were vastly more expensive than when they were provided by the council.
  • In some cases, the difference in costs between the two organisations was "substantial".
  • McElhinney's LDL deliberately inflated the cost of providing some services.
  • There were no regular reviews of services to check that the city council was getting value for money.
  • Services provided by LDL were not subject to the same rules as council services, which are designed to prevent corruption.
  • There was a growing informal relationship between the city council and LDL, which led to eyebrows being raised and prompted questions about integrity and propriety.
The report also calls for independent officials to be brought in to monitor the relationship between the council and LDL.
There is also bad news for chief executive Colin 'Cover Up' Hilton (left) who allowed McElhinney to escape to LDL in March, as his boss Henshaw left.
The report says staff should not be able to transfer to LDL within six months of leaving the council - a clear slap in the face for Hilton's mishandling of the McElhinney scandal.
It is now clear that McEhinney has been robbing the people of Liverpool blind to feather his own nest at LDL ever since it was set up as a joint venture with BT in 2000.
And he must have had the support of former chief executive Henshaw and the smiling assassin Halsall, who is supposed to keep an eye on taxpayers money.
Either both members of the evil cabal were grossly incompetent - or they colluded in the theft of council taxpayers money.
The city council should now be taking action against both over the missing millions.
Meanwhile BT Chairman Sir Ian Bland is also under pressure to take action against McElhinney and to repay the money robbed from Liverpool by the joint venture.
Editor's note: BT is worth £23.2 billion and last week announced half-year profits of £665million - an increase of 12 per cent.

COMING SOON: More on the thief McElhinney and the LDL joint venture with BT.
Dr David McElhinney

Friday, November 10, 2006

MCELHINNEY SLAMMED BY SECRET REPORT INTO £520 MILLION COUNCIL CONTRACTS - BUT NO ACTION TO BE TAKEN

LIVERPOOL Direct chief executive, David McElhinney - Henshaw's rottweiller - has been well and truly fingered in a secret and damning report into the handling of council contracts worth £520million.
Even though independent auditors have made 37 separate recommendations about changing the future handling of LDL contracts, the hated McElhinney is to escape any disciplinary action whatsoever.
This is even though the 37 separate recommendations are a massive indictment of McElhinney's handling of these contracts and his personal running of Liverpool Direct Limited, as chief executive.
The council have already admitted that as a result of the LDL joint venture with BT, millions of pounds in public money has been wasted.
And this all happened in the last five years under Henshaw's evil cabal.
But new chief exec, Colin 'Cover up' Hilton has ensured that McElhinney will not be disciplined and that he will continue to enjoy his £150,000 executive perks, such as his notorious shower in (Misad)Venture Place, boxing freebies, expense account, hospitality at Anfield, Sarah Parr, etc.
Cover Up is also keeping the full report secret for reasons of alleged 'commercial confidentiality' (my arse - it would be too embarrassing for Hilton to reveal all the details about what McElhinney got up to as part of Henshaw's evil regime and the hypocrite Hilton will do anything for a quiet life, ed).
But one thing is clear: MILLIONS OF POUNDS IN PUBLIC MONEY WAS WASTED BY THE EVIL CABAL


And of course, the allegations made on the legendary Liverpool evil cabal blog about the evil Henshaw, the rottweiller McElhinney and the smiling assassin Phil Halsall, (the man with his hands on the purse strings) are now all proved to be true.
Colin Cover Up admitted:
"With the size of the contracts involved, we could be looking at savings of millions of pounds."

and then he had the brass neck to say:

"There was nothing in there that warrants further investigation."

(My arse, ed)

So Tony Parrish has been vindicated!
Henshaw, McElhinney and Halsall should all face legal action by the council for robbing council taxpayers.
And the District Audior, who turned his back on all of this, should walk the plank.

Six further recommendations have also been made about enterprise-Liverpool by auditors KPMG, the Daily Post reveals.
But no-one is being allowed to see the detailed report, which will remain under lock and key in Hilton/Henshaw's office.

WE DEMAND THAT THE SECRET REPORT IS MADE PUBLIC - IT CONCERNS THE WASTE OF HUGE SUMS OF PUBLIC MONEY BY MCELHINNEY. Dr David McElhinney




Wednesday, November 08, 2006

THE OFFICIAL "I'M TONY PARRISH" AWARD 2006

BY popular demand, the Liverpool subCulture blog is pleased to announce the first ever 'I'm Tony Parrish' Award, 2006.
Nominations are invited now for those people who have spent the last year standing up for truth, justice and democracy (or all three at once).
They should also have demonstrated a healthy disrespect for officialdom (in the form of the city council and/or the Culture Company) and a willingness to cause as much trouble as possible, whatever the personal consequences.
It would also be an advantage if they had shown a healthy sense of humour and a deep and abiding contempt for the evil cabal and all its followers.
The winner of the award will receive a suitably plastic trophy (we haven't bought it yet), together with a very special prize (ditto) at a glittering ceremony somewhere in a coffee bar in Liverpool. Probably Starbucks.
Please nominate your entrant and describe (in more than two words and less than 6,000) why they should recieve this prestigious award in honour of our now legendary hero. The closing date for entries is Dec 15th.
The award will be presented by a very special guest (who we haven't told yet).
The blog's decision will be final.
Sir Diddy will not be invited....

Monday, November 06, 2006

"I av neveeeer seen a man as gross and stuupide as thise Marbororow personne in all my life..."


INSPECTOR CLUE-LESS has been getting his knickers in a twist over the blog's revelations about his bumbling private detective work.
Apparently a panic-stricken Marbrow asked for urgent meetings with Council Leader Warren Bradley and Councillor Mike Storey about the blog's latest revelations.
In particular, he wanted to know how the blog knew about his meeting with Bradley in which the council leader told him to halt his one-man hunt for legendary blogger, Tony Parrish.
Marbrow accused both Bradley and Storey of being in cahoots with the blog.
And, puffing himself up to his full 22-stone girth and summoning up all his self-important pomposity, Clueless demanded to know how Bradley's words had been so accurately reported here.
(He really is a complete thick-head, isn't he folks? Has the penny still not dropped with him? ed)
The response of both Bradley and Storey is not known. (But we can guess, ed)
Marbrow is said to be furious that he has been fingered for helping Colin 'Cover-up' Hilton and fellow evil cabalists, Halsall and McElhinney to avoid the long arm of the law.
Relations in the Marbrow household, between Clueless and his blushing new bride, have also suffered as a result, we can reveal interestingly.
(What, she's rationing his pizzas to one a day?, ed)
Marbrow is also going around (incorrectly and wildly) speculating about the author of the last posting about him. (He is such a gullible fool, ed)
Marbrow is meanwhile still busily commandeering computers to vote for himself in our 'do the people of Kensington deserve better than Clueless?' poll (right).
Apparently he thinks it is amazingly clever of him to vote 'no' to this, not understanding how this demonstrates a complete lack of respect for Kensington voters. (Which they will repay in spades come next May, ed)
It seems he has no friends who will vote for him.
These are the titans leading our city, folks....