COLIN COVER UP IS FOUND OUT.....!

COLIN COVER UP FACES CONTEMPT OF COURT PROCEEDINGS
Click here to discover how the city's chief exec has finally been found out:
http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_headline=high-court-threat-to-city-chief-over-red-light-row%26method=full%26objectid=18533567%26page=1%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

WE ARE OFFICIALLY NOMINATING THE DUSANJ BROTHERS, WHO OWN CAINS BREWERY, TO BE LIVERPOOL'S NEXT ARTISTIC DIRECTORS FOR 2008.
At least we know for certain that they will be able to run a piss-up in a brewery.

Colin 'Cover Up' finally admits: "TONY PARRISH TOLD THE TRUTH"

Liverpool city council have finally admitted that Tony Parrish told the truth on his legendary liverpoolevilcabal blog.
The admission comes in a confidential report compiled by the city council's own internal audit department and endorsed by chief executive Colin 'Cover Up' (Colin Hilton, ed)
The 12-page report sets out to try and prove that the city council's former media chief, Matt Finnegan was the real Tony Parrish.
Readers will recall that Finnegan had worked for the council for six years as Director of Communications before Henshaw suspended him on trumped up charges over his pension row with council leader Mike Storey.
The internal report was leaked to the Liverpool Echo before Christmas by the city council's smiling assassin, Executive Director Phil Halsall (left) in an unsuccessful attempt to try and damage Finnegan.
The Echo however chose not to swallow the bait and pointed out the report was littered with half-truths, speculation and conjecture, the council itself admitting that it was inconclusive.
However, what has surprisingly been ignored is the report's description of events within the council which lead to the sudden appearance last summer of the liverpoolevilcabal blog.
For the first time, we can reveal the circumstances in which the legendary Tony Parrish gave birth to the blog.
And they give a fascinating insight into what was going on inside the Municipal Buildings soon after Sir Diddy (chief executive, Sir David Henshaw, ed) was made to walk the plank and retire early.
One page of the report is headed: Access to Council Material

It describes how five Freedom of Information email requests were made by "Tony Parrish" to the then acting chief executive Colin 'Cover Up' (Colin Hilton, ed) on 20th April last year. (Henshaw had departed on March 31st, ed).
The extremely detailed questions, which were about The 08 Place, The Summer Pops and internal audit's lack of activities, requested official documents about all three. (The council has still failed to respond - a flagrant breach of the law, ed)

But the internal report goes on:

"One of the five emails...asked for documentation relating to the sub tenancy of The 08 Place. Although, at that time there was no evidence as to the identity of Tony Parrish, the belief was that these requests had been provoked by information provided by council sources. " (You betcha bottom dollar, ed) In an email to those involved, the chief executive (Hilton, left) stated: 'I received five requests from the same person under the Freedom of Information Act in relation to this complaint and The 08 Place. In view of the information in the requests it is reasonable for me to believe that only those directly involved could have supplied information to this third party ." (Our hero, Tony Parrish, ed)

So, you will be asking, who were those 'directly involved'?
Well, Colin 'Cover Up' was one. The now discredited and pensioned off Head of Internal Audit, Gerry Callaghan was another.
And there were two councillors - former leader, Mike Storey and current leader, Warren Bradley. (Take your pick folks, ed)
All four had met to consider allegations made about The 08 Place, Henshaw blackmailing the city, The Summer Pops, The Kensington One Stop Shop, etc, etc.
(It is revealing, isn't it folks? that Hilton already appears at this point to have been more interested in trying to trace the source of the leak than properly investigating the specific allegations which had been made at such a senior level. Warren should have been warned then, ed)
It was thus as a result of Hilton's failure to respond to lawful questions and to properly act against corruption and criminality that the liverpoolevilcabal blog was born.
Clearly Tony Parrish was determined that the evil cabal should be publicly exposed.
So that's when all the fun started.
The report goes on to say:

"A significant amount of the material on the liverpoolevilcabal website related to Council business that was not in the public domain or public knowledge. Examples not necessarily exhaustive, include:

• Allegations in relation to 08 Place, which contained detail that was only available to a handful of individuals within the city council (guess who folks? ed) including a reference (27th July 2006), to detailed documents being presented to the Chief Executive and Head of Audit. (ah-ha, as Alan Partridge would say, ed)
• The posting of 3rd July (told you they were following every word, ed) which reproduces extracts of Councillor Antrobus's account of events, referred to on the website as "Henshaw's attempted coup - by Coun Antrobus") (This was Henshaw threatening to report Storey to the Standards Board unless he quit, ed)
  
• The postings of 21st and 22nd July which reproduce extracts of Councillor Clark's account of events, referred to on the website as "Henshaw threatened Storey's job - shock new evidence" and "Henshaw's blackmail note". (Aaaaah, this takes us back to exciting times, ed. As the sun beat down, Tony Parrish lazed about with his laptop, sipping Chablis and detonating one grenade after another as the stunned council recoiled. It was almost Dickensian in its scope and cast of sordid characters as the seedy underbelly of Henshaw's evil cabal was revealed in all its full horror, ed. Those were the days, ed.)
• The Cream proposals for running the Summer Pops. (This was the attempted stitch-up with CMP and the Harbarrowboy, ed)

It is reasonable to conclude that material such as this could only have emanated from Council sources" the report concludes, (with amazing insight, ed).

Here's the thing though - what was Hilton doing about the allegations which were emanating from such senior council sources? (Bugger all - he banned the blog instead, ed)
'Cover Up' was clearly aware of the allegations being made - particularly about Henshaw blackmailing the city council, but repeatedly failed to call in the police to investigate. Why not? (There could still be more developments on this though, watch this space, ed)
So there you have it.
Tony Parrish was being fed confidential information from inside the council by 'you know who', decided it should be made public and not covered up by Colin.
The blog was born.
And that started the city council's witch hunt against TP (banning the blog to the public, threats of writs, letters to Google, the smiling assassin's pathetic letter to the Information Commissioner, Inspector Clueless wandering around scratching his head, etc, etc)
Oh what fun it all was.
And there's a nice little postscript.
The confidential report can barely disguise its disappointment when it describes how it had intended to raise all this stuff about confidential information with Mattie Finnegan (below) to: "ascertain if he could provide any information or shed any light as to the source(s)."
(We can imagine his direct two-word response to this particular enquiry, ed)
But he thwarted them by upping and resigning in disgust before they could question him. (Apparently Callaghan had been practising his 'hard cop, soft cop' routine in an office mirror for weeks in readiness for this confrontation, ed)
The report concludes:
"In the circumstances, in the absence of any further information, it is not possible to draw any conclusions as to the source of Council material used in e-mails or on the liverpoolevilcabal website."
And we daresay that there are one or two senior people at the city council today who are gratefully breathing a huge sigh of relief.
(We just thought you should know the truth....ed)

SIR TREVOR AND LADY DOREEN - GET WELL SOON!

GET well soon wishes to Sir Trevor Jones and his
redoubtable missus, Lady Doreen, who have both
been ill over the festive season.
Both have been in the Countess of Chester Hospital,
Sir Trevor with an apparent heart attack and
Lady Do with a hip injury.
Sir Trevor, a fomer leader of the council, has been under 24 hour
observation after a major transfusion, while Lady Doreen, the
council's current Planning Chair, will need an
emergency hip replacement.
Sir Trevor was a respected
leader of the Council who became a national politicalfigure.
Lady Doreen, a former Lord Mayor, has had ahuge impact
on planning and the police authority.
Regardless of political persuasion, both have done much
for Liverpool.

Caption Competition - Win a new £17,000 roof to keep the bird shit off your motor. 2nd Prize - a free bus pass for your kids to go to school.

OH SHIT - IT'S ANOTHER 'COVER UP' BY COLIN!

Oh Shit! Colin 'Cover Up' Hilton has spent £17,000 of taxpayers money on a new roof for his car!
This is at the same time that the city council is planning to stop free school buses for 4,500 of the city's kids.
Hilton ordered the cover up to protect his gleaming paint work from the bird shit dropped by the city's seagulls and pigeons.
He agreed that the money should be spent on putting a roof over the free car park spaces that he and the smiling assassin Halsall, who drives a new Porsche, occupy at the rear of the Municipal Buildings in Victoria Street.
The scandal has been highlighted by the Liverpool Daily Post (was the Echo fast asleep again, or just being consistently craven? ed) in a fantastic story today.
Amazingly Council Leader Warren Bradley has defended the use of taxpayers money on featherbedding (ouch, ed) well paid officials like this, accusing critics like Labour's Joe Anderson of being 'mischievous.'
(Here is another lengthy editorial aside: A word of advice Warren. Being Leader of the Council does not mean that you have to justify everything the city council does, nor defend the indefensible as in this case, whatever Hilton tells you. You keep on doing this as though you are performing some kind of public duty - whether it is over the shambles that is Culture, the whitewash over The 08 Place or The Summer Pops. You do not have to keep doing this. It is stupid. Your job is to protect and defend the public interest - that is not the same thing as the council's interests. Please grow up, act like a mature politician, be your own man and use a bit of common sense and judgement, or we will not be so kind to you in the future, ed)
The roof has been built for the cars of highly paid senior executives such as Hilton and Halsall who already enjoy FREE car parking at the rear of the Municipal Buildings - unlike all other council employees.
It seems they can't afford to pay for their own cars to be cleaned so they wanted a roof building instead.
Apparently the fingers of McElhinney can be found all over the roof plan for the pooh park at the MO.
And of course, Halsall would have had to sign off the expenditure as city treasurer.
As Councillor Anderson remarked: "It's like something from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".
In the meantime these luxury loving motorists want to axe free school buses for 4,500 Liverpool children because it costs too much.
See how the evl cabal still survives, folks?
Disgraceful. Write to your local councillor and get the canopy torn down.

VICTORY FOR EMPLOYEE AGAINST LAW-BREAKING CITY COUNCIL

Click on this link to read about the historic victory of a Liverpool woman over the law-breaking city council. This is the first of more to come.....
council breaks the law over data protection

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...

KENNEDY EXPOSES HENSHAW AND MCELHINNEY'S COMPUTER SCAM IN COMMONS

Seasons Greetings to Liverpool Wavertree MP Jane Kennedy for exposing Sir Diddy's corruption to a national audience at Westminster.
The crusading Labour MP, who earlier this year devastatingly described Henshaw as "A man in whom I have no confidence, and for whom I have no respect" has now taken her campaign to the floor of the Commons.
She described as a "scandalous waste of money" the £2.5million bill paid by the city council to hire personal computers for Liverpool's 90 councillors from Liverpool Direct, run by Henshaw's chief hatchet man and rottweiller, 'Dr' (like Crippen, Goebbels and Faustus, ed) David McElhinney.
And Labour Leader Joe Anderson then jumped in and gave the disgraceful deal a well-deserved good kicking too.
Ms Kennedy pointed out to MP's and Local Government Minister, Phil Woolas:
"a recent report by KPMG suggests 43 ways in which the council could save money on the external contracts negotiated by its former chief executive, Sir David Henshaw "
(See how Jane cleverly fingers Henshaw as the man directly and ultimately responsible for this monumentally corrupt theft of council tax-payers money? Go Girl! ed)
Ms Kennedy continued: "One of them commits the council to a service charge of £11,000 a year per councillor, to be paid to a company called Liverpool Direct for computers supplied to councillors."
(If PC World charged that much this Christmas, their would be riots on Bold Street, ed)
And Kennedy then also managed to raise the subject of the publication of the KPMG report which new chief executive Colin 'Cover Up' Hilton is, true to his name, trying to keep covered up.
She asked our old mate Mr Woolas: "Will my hon. Friend examine the report to ensure that he and his officials know the background, and to ensure that Liverpool council tax payers receive the best services that can be provided from the significant resources that the council receives?
Which left Mr Woolas with an open goal: "I am grateful to her for raising the important point about the KPMG survey."
"Of course, in terms of the allocation of revenue support grant one cannot take into account such specific reports, but Liverpool is subject to the Gershon requirements, as are other authorities, and I would have thought that a consideration of that important report would be a contribution to that agenda in Liverpool."
(In other words, pay attention to this KPMG report Liverpool city council, consider yourselves seriously reprimanded for allowing this disgraceful deal with Liverpool Direct to happen and make sure you implement all the KPMG recommendations or there will be big trouble for you, ed.)
All of which will have made Henshaw turn in his grave with embarrassment and shame (I doubt it, ed) and cause much uncomfortable foot shuffling by McElhinney, the so-called guardian of public money Halsall, (aka the smiling assasin) and by Mr Cover Up.
Of course a council spokesman then tried to make an ill-advised defence of this corrupt computer deal (prompted by the rottweiller's foaming at the mouth ragings) rather than have the decency and the humility to admit that the people of Liverpool had been robbed blind by McElhinney (wouldn't have happened in Matt Finnegan's day, ed).
Which just threw a huge great pan of fat on the fire.
But full marks to the Daily Post, Joe Anderson and most of all MP Kennedy for again having the bottle to expose Henshaw's evil bastards and refusing to be initimidated by his cabal.
Our eternal loyalty is thus secured....

Dr David McElhinney

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

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

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.

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

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

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....

"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....

ALI TO THE RESCUE!

INSPECTOR CLUELESS IN KENSINGTON

THE knives are flashing for Councillor Richard Marbrow, Executive Member for Central Services, who has been re-named Inspector Clue-less by his Lib Dem colleagues.
The overbearing busybody turned into a private detective in his one-man hunt for Tony Parrish.
(Even taking a tour of those public libraries which had public access to the internet to try and track down our hero). (Did he claim expenses for this? ed)
The bumptious oaf, who is so pompous he makes Henshaw look positively modest, took it upon himself to become Colin Cover-Up's resident IT and email expert.
It was Marbrow who, so delighted with his computer prowess, decided to start meddling when the council banned the liverpoolevilcabal blog.
TP sent all the councillors a cheeky email telling them what Cover-Up was trying to keep quiet. And Meddling Marbrow then set off with his magnifying glass and deerstalker to try and track him down.
This was despite the fact that all of the revelations on TP's now legendary liverpoolevilcabal website had been presented by former Leader, Councillor Mike Storey in a huge dossier to chief executive Colin Hilton and new Leader Warren Bradley.
Clueless didn't have a clue about this - or that Storey and Bradley were gunning for The Rottweiller and The Smiling Assassin after discovering what they had been up to during Henshaw's evil cabal regime.
But neither Bradley nor Storey could control the oaf as he waddled off in pursuit.
"What do you think you are playing at, Marbrow" demanded an angry Bradley during an early morning confrontation. "All this stuff is true. Why are you trying to stop it?"
"I thought it was my duty," replied the self-satisfied sanctimonious old codger (he's 39, ed).
Inspector Clueless had no idea that Storey's dossier existed or that his dossier justly fingered both the Rottweiler and the Smiling Assassin for abuse of public funds.
The naive nincompoop believed he was coming to the aid of the much-maligned £150,000-a -year Exec Directors, who had conspired with Henshaw just a few months earlier to get rid of Storey.
Marbrow of course, did not know that all of Storey's allegations were true.
Even worse, he exhibited all the usual unthinking tendencies of all those who adopt the city council's customary siege mentality - to defend the indefensible, without pausing to make any rational or independent assessment.
But as his Lib Dem colleagues have remarked about Marbrow on more than one occasion - he is the least self-aware person on the planet.
Now we hear that Labour are out to get meddling Marbrow in the local elections in Kensington ward in May, where he has few friends and even less political allies.
And fireman Bradley will not weep any tears - he has already forecast fat boy's fall!
Never mind Clueless, your close friend, Colin 'Cover-up' Hilton, who praised you to the skies for coming to the aid of evil Henshaw, the hated McElhinney and the smiling assassin Halsall, may come and help you canvass!
With friends like this.... 5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Marbrow is such a stupid twat, i reckon he is out on his ear in May, no trouble. Perhaps we should start an all-party and non-party campaign to get rid of him? Will you lead us Tony08?

Thursday, October 12, 2006 2:40:00 AM

Warren Bradley said...

Rendezvous in Kensington on March 30 at 5.30 pm.

Friday, October 20, 2006 5:20:00 PM

LDLer said...

I am so glad you have outed that bumptious little oaf. Dr Death has spent months just pulling the wool over his eyes, time after time. and Marbrow is so pompous and full of himself, he thinks everything is hunky dory. moron. i wouldn't be at all surprised if huge gangs of people turned up to get him out in kensignton. that would be a real victory for democracy!

Monday, October 23, 2006 7:12:00 PM

Dickie Marbrow said...

I'm sure my mummy loves me????!!!

Tuesday, October 24, 2006 11:27:00 AM

Tony Parrish47 said...

but she wouldn't vote for you in a million years.

BRADLEY ANNOUNCES DEATH OF THE QUANGO'S - BUT WHEN?

City council leader Warren Bradley has taken the brave and sensible step of announcing the scrapping of quango-land in Liverpool.
Bradley has called for the abolition of Liverpool Vision, the Liverpool Land Development Company and Business Liverpool. (Just those three then? ed)
No-one knows exactly what any of these three organisations have actually achieved for Liverpool.
Liverpool Vision is a well meaning regeneration quango which has excelled at colourful brochures and billboards but has been remarkably short of delivery on the ground. (It was behind the plans for the Fourth Grace, ed)
Liverpool Land Development Company is busily making a mess out of Edge Lane and some serious question marks are now being raised about the professed antecedents of some of its most senior officials.
And Business Liverpool has so far survived about three separate attempts to try and re-organise it into an effective job creation agency.
What all three have in common, of course, is that they lack any democratic accountability. No elected representatives have any control over these three organisations which together have the power to spend millions of pounds in public money. (Good enough reason for them to go then, ed)
So Bradley has laid down the gauntlet: "This spaghetti maze is getting in the way of the city building its future economy. My aim is to start off with encouraging the big three agencies to join forces, and that will consume a number of smaller agencies, such as the Strategic Investment Area bodies (SIAs). My biggest problem is that Liverpool's record on attracting inward investment is rubbish."
Good for you then Warren, whose views were also echoed by Labour Leader Joe Anderson.
But wait.
All these quangos employ armies of people on ludicrously fat salaries. They are not going to go quietly, are they? (You must be joking, ed)
So watch the opposition start to mount and the PR campaigns kick into overdrive as they all battle for survival.
Warren Bradley announced the abolition of the quangos on October 13, 2006.
Let's give him a year and then see what progress has been made....