Tuesday, December 19, 2006

BRADLEY GETS HIS MAN AS REGEN BOSS


An awful lot of bollocks has been talked about the appointment of John Kelly as the city council's new regeneration chief.
Labour have been complaining that Kelly's appointment was stitched up in advance and that no attention was paid to the other applicants.
Of course it was stitched up!
Warren Bradley insisted that Kelly was appointed to the post and he was determined enough to ensure that his fellow Lib Dems voted the way he wanted.
What's so surprising about that? It may not be a fair and transparent appointment process, but there is no such thing in Liverpool.
Henshaw's corrupt regime at the city council was constantly characterised by stitched up appointments of people Sir Diddy favoured or who would do his bidding (even if Mike Storey didn't want them, ed).
How else does anyone think McElhinney came to be appointed from Knowsley?
Cos he was Storey's choice?

Don't make me laugh.
Henshaw shooed in his rottweiller. Just like he shooed in Halsall and all the others.
All that is happening now is that Bradley, for once in his life, is asserting some control over council officers and ensuring that his hand-picked men (and sadly, they will be mainly men, ed) are the ones who get the jobs.
It's called realpolitik.
You may not like it, but learn to live with it - especially when its exercised by councillors - at least they are accountable for the people they appoint.
The alternative is to ignore proven experience and talent by making appointments based instead on a beauty parade of candidates who perform best at interview.
Hence the appointment of complete bullshitters like Kris Donaldson at Culture.
Performed brilliantly at interview - but absolutely hopeless at his job. A man who can't even decide when to cross the road.
The truth is that for a whole host of reasons, and despite noticeably lacking some human and personal qualities, John Kelly was undoubtedly the best appointment for Liverpool.
For a start, he is probably the city council's only fully paid up intellectual.
(And amongst those pygmies, he stands out a mile. Observing the completely blank faces of his colleagues around the table at meetings is an utter joy.)
Secondly and most importantly, he was amongst a group of senior officers in Regeneration who, under the direction of the departing Charlie Parker, helped Mike Storey compile his dossier on McElhinney, Halsall and The 08 Place, Summer Pops etc, etc. (More power to his elbow then, ed)
Thirdly, he was one of the few senior council officers to loudly condemn Henshaw's evil cabal for their attempted coup d'etat against Storey. He accurately compared it to the head of the civil service trying to depose the Prime Minister.
Fourthly, he hates McElhinney. (Say no more, ed)
He was one of the few senior officers who accurately identified McElhinney's vicious bullying streak.
At one memorable event, Kelly demonstrated his theory to onlookers by using his considerable height to 'accidentally' bump into the rottweiller, who like the authentic bully he truly is, instantly recoiled in terror when physically confronted. (Why didn't they just make this guy the chief exec? He sounds a top man! ed)
Fifthly, he had the good sense to twice turn down cast-iron invitations from Storey to become chief exec of Capital of Culture and replace the Harbarrowboy.
At the time, this was seen as a blow - now it is clear that Kelly was displaying great common sense and that he plans to be around a long time after the damp squib of 08 is long forgotten.
Sixthly, Henshaw was gloriously intimidated both by Kelly's intellectual supriority and by his physical stature - he's about 6 foot 6 inches and made Sir Diddy appear as puny as he is.
And seventhly (that's enough reasons, you have persuaded us, ed) he is well-liked because he is a genuinely good and decent guy who believes in old fashioned stuff like democracy, truth and justice.
And although a resident of Eccles, he now appears to have made Liverpool his spiritual home.
Kelly is one of the few clever, dedicated and conscientious officers working for the city.
He believes in Liverpool.
And he won't be afraid to take on Hilton or Halsall, who he loathes, or any of the other cabalists who rightly fear his increasing influence and popularity.
Which is exactly why Bradley wanted him so badly.
Kelly could now easily turn Regeneration into the rival city power base which it has long promised to become. He may even be able to make it deliver.
He is just the sort of guy, Labour should now be considering as a potential future chief executive...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Couldn't agree with you more. A generous but accurate assessment...

Anonymous said...

Have a look at this on Liverpool Confidential. Thought you might like it!

click here: http://www.liverpoolconfidential.com/

Anonymous said...

Why don't you start a John Kelly fan club then, if you love him so much?

Anonymous said...

Absolutely right about JK - one of th best and a decent man.

Anonymous said...

This guy sounds good but before we all get our hopes up too much can anyone else hear an alarm bell ringing, after all we had high hopes that Coverup would come up with the goods didnt we but he seems to be a mini Diddy

Tony Parrish47 said...

You are right to be cautious. But believe me Kelly is a much more reliable bet than anyone else in the corpy. The only fear is that he won't be able to get a grip on regen and that the cabalists will try and undermine him. Hilton will already be wary, so will probably try and put him in his place, early doors. It remains to be seen if Kelly has the determination to withstand all that nonsense and get on with his job. he does lack some personal qualities which would otherwise inspire more confidence, but no-one said he was perfect. he isn't but he is much better than the rest of them.

Tori Blare said...

I don't believe a word of it he is just as bad as the rest as he has not done anything about the cabalists yet so he is as useless as all the other so called leaders of our great city.
Why should I and others pay his wages?
Give me a proven record of him attacking and actually doing anything about this continuing saga of corruption and I may agree with your comments, however I think Hilton is still in charge and Bradley is still spouting garbage, correct me if I am wrong?
I still think the whole lot of them should be sacked and new people who have proven they are not corrupt and actually do something about the discusting events that have taken place and are still happening, should be taken on.
I just can't wait until May 07.
Lib Dems and Tory ship jumpers should be very scared now and I would advise them to start looking for other forms of employment.
I hear Liverpool Direct are looking for a few gobshites to answer the phones.

Anonymous said...

Spot on....