Bust in Birkenhead

A Wirral Leaks reader comments on the ongoing local hypocrisy concerning Peachez gentleman’s club :

Peachez gentleman’s club, demeaning to women. An argument I am sure many would agree with, however, I am surprised that Wirral Labour councillors are amongst them. It was an issue that didn’t seem to bother their parliamentary colleague Frank Field, who in February of this year was to write for the Sun newspaper, the same newspaper that only a month after Mr Field’s article appeared was to launch its annual ‘’Bust in Britain’’ competition.

As much as he likes to judge others we can’t see Birkenhead MP Frank Field on the judging panel for this alleged ‘boobylicious’ accolade. But as they say you should judge people by the company they keep. Frank Field writes for The S*n and Deputy Leader of Wirral Council  Cllr George Davies is his electoral agent. What a fine pair they make! Just sayin’ !

Wirral Leaks Weekly Dispatch #18

PARK AND SNIDE

We’ve been sent this picture (or a triptych as one of our clever contributors called it) . It came with a cross -eyed witness report which read :

There is a lot of dancing around a pole at Derby  Pool car park today…people attempting to read this notice. You have to take up 3 different positions to read it….  it’s all a bit Birkenhead lap dancing club….

Surely not legal?

Meanwhile one of many Wirral Leaks readers sent us the Wirral Council weblink to their new car parking charges proposals. One reader wrote :

I’m sure you’ve been inundated with this but if not read the full details.

https://www.wirral.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-travel/parking/proposed-new-parking-charges

One major flaw is they plan to charge £20 after 10pm. How is that going to sit with people out for a drink,at the cinema or at the pavilion.

Regards

Yes I’m sure you’ll agree it’s all very snidey from Wirral Council. No change there then – although unfortunately it’ll be you who not only needs the loose change but a couple of tenners!

THE LOWDOWN ON HIGHBROW 

For those of you who want to catch up on the latest court news and specifically the Nigel Hobro case held this week  in Birkenhead County Court can we direct you to another full eyewitness report here

The interesting aspect for us was the ruling that the case was statute barred meaning that Hobro had run out of time to bring a claim for compensation. That would surely also be the case for the Wirralgate complainants but fortunately for them they’ve got an incriminating recording and bent Birkenhead MP Frank Field in their corner to ‘demand’ a bespoke investigation by good friend Nick Warren.We’ll have to wait and see how that case pans out but we’d love to see how it would stand  up in a court of law. The answer being that of course that it wouldn’t.

THE GREEN TIDE IS RISING

Talking of a desperate and clearly rattled MP witnessing his vice-like grip – and boy do we mean vice – on his God-given constituency begin to loosen . Once again  many readers (and interestingly enough Labourites or should that be Labour-Rights?) have sent us the personal email sent by Frankenfield to the party faithful and his insightful analysis of the recent local elections

Hello Wirral Leaks,

Below is a excerpt from a Frank Field Labour email talking about their local election campaign in Birkenhead. Frank can’t seem to fathom that other parties giving people something to vote for means that Labour can’t take the electorate for granted (something he clearly has done for his whole parliamentary career). As for the phrase ‘Herculean effort’, and looking at the amount of resources Labour poured into it, surely a more apt description of the election in Birkenhead and Tranmere would be David versus Goliath?

Local elections

Frank comments, ‘I was really pleased to campaign with each of Labour’s terrific candidates – Jeff Davies, Sam Frost, Liz Grey, Paul Jobson, Moira McLaughlin, and Gill Wood – in the run-up to the local elections, in which Labour maintained its majority on Wirral Council.

‘The breakdown of the Birkenhead results reveals some notable trends. Since this round of seats was last contested in 2014, UKIP’s share of the vote in Birkenhead has totally collapsed (from 17.5 per cent, to nil). Meanwhile, Labour’s share of the vote has increased by 6.5 percentage points (from 48.2 per cent, 54.7 per cent) and the Greens’ by 6 percentage points (from 13.2 per cent, to 19.2 per cent). This illustrates how heavily the Greens are targeting certain wards in Birkenhead. The Lib Dems’ vote increased by 3.1 percentage points (from 11 per cent, to 14.1 per cent), and the Tories’ by 2.1 percentage points (from 9.2 per cent, to 11.3 per cent).

‘There was a Herculean effort to wrestle back Birkenhead & Tranmere to Labour, and to win in Oxton, but the Green and Lib Dem vote held up in each respective ward.

‘It is worth spending time as a party to understand why we did so well, relatively speaking, in Bidston & St James, Claughton, and Rock Ferry, while results elsewhere have raised real issues for next year. Unless we rethink the strategy in Prenton, for example, this seat could well fall to the Greens within a couple of elections.

‘Across Wirral, UKIP’s share of the vote fell by 16.5 percentage points (from 16.6 per cent, to 0.1 per cent). The Tories’ share of the vote increased by 7.4 percentage points (from 28.9 per cent, to 36.3 per cent), Labour’s by 6.7 percentage points (from 38.1 per cent, to 44.8 per cent), the Lib Dems’ by 1.6 percentage points (from 8.4 per cent, to 10 per cent), and the Greens’ by 0.8 percentage points (from 7.7 per cent, to 8.5 per cent).’

So we say to the good people of Prenton – the old certainties are over , you know what to do come the next local elections – make ’em earn it or even better give Frank and his phonies a well deserved kick up the arse.

Safe and Secure

If ever there was a picture that wanted His Lord and Ladyship to stick their fingers down their throat this is it.

The hypocrisy on display is truly sickening. Let us explain why :

There has been a lot going on behind the scenes within Community Safety. As you might remember there was the usual PR bullshit within the local media with the announcement that ‘The Safer Wirral Hub’ (FFS!)  was moving to Leasowe’s Solar Campus site as a joint initiative with all new cushy jobs and wage rises for the select few.

It was the shape of things to come that Wirral Council’s  Community Patrol Officers (CPO’s) are the only ones not in the picture. In fact as far as we understand they are only requested to attend solar Campus if a bit of car parking duty is needed or a CPO needs picking up.

Apparently the CPO’s are now back to where they were 20 years ago in a ramshackle house on the grounds at Cleveland Street depot and are being requested to take on the duties of more senior officers which they have been covering for over nine years but with an agreed payment when they cover.

Now the powers that be want to make it part of their duties – without payment at a loss of up to £3k a year for some officers. As a source tell us :

Meanwhile in the real world Community Patrol Officers are currently going through a consultation that will change their shift patterns and take up to three thousand pounds out of their annual earnings.

Officers have been covering for supervision carrying out their duties for over nine years and receiving a payment for doing so as their wage bands are so far apart E to a H.

This new consultation wants to evolve these duties into the officers job descriptions without any further progression to their pay band but still have a  single senior officer on a Band H overseeing.

This single post will be between the soon to be discarded Control room officer supervisor ( 30 years service with no blemishes) and ex mayors chauffer(with historical numeracy skills and a way with the ladies) who do we think will get this? The dubious character of the likely candidate speaks volumes

The consultation is over and the choice given is accept or bye bye.

Jobs for the boys at the top with fuck all on the shop

It’s Wirral Council’s same old mantra – something for nothing but aimed at the manual workers from the lower grades.Effectively punishing the lowest paid staff to retain one highly paid position when working class lads have covered it for the past ten years.How are CPO’s meant to make Wirral’s residents safe when their jobs aren’t secure?

What’s more the CPO’s have not been allowed to see their own job description as Wirral Council’s utterly corrupt HR department say they don’t have it.

Isn’t it a shame that people are reduced to making Freedom of Information requests  to find out information to which they are legally entitled? :

Community Patrol Officer JD

But what really galls us is the likes of Cllr George Davies are still  in a position to make decisions about people’s lives and livelihoods when he should have been run out of public office years ago. Lucky for him -and unlucky for us –  he has low friends in high places who have got him out of deep shit of his own making.

Under these circumstances could this make ‘Gorgeous George’ the ultimate class traitor?

Sex and the Establishment

Ooh we knew that headline would grab your attention.

We couldn’t let the news pass that Wirral Council want to take the moral high ground on the matter of ‘Peachez’ the self-styled ‘gentleman’s club’ in Conway Street , Birkenhead and put further obstacles in the way of the lap dancing joint to ensure it closes down.

The latest move to prevent the ‘gentlemen’ of Birkenhead getting a bit of , er , titillation is to introduce new ‘sex licensing’ measures which are over and above current legal requirements.

The proposals would mean that there would be an assessment  that the owner of a ‘sex establishment’  would need to be  “honest” and “qualified by experience to run the type of sex establishment in question”. If only some of the born again Town Hall Puritans were subject to the same scrutiny when it comes to honesty!

What’s more from what we’ve heard about the sex lives of the establishment on Wirral there have been a series of dalliances that would make even Linda Lovelace gag. Talking of which remind us one day to tell you about the carry on at Wirral University Teaching Hospital !

Moreover with the release of the Taxpayer’s Alliance annual Town Hall Rich List 2018 which features several Wirral Council officers we can’t help thinking there are more people in Wallasey Town Hall acting immorally in exchange for money than you shake a pair of nipple tassels at! And so it would seem that money and power are potent aphrodisiacs for some – which let’s face it is the only way to explain some of the sexual encounters we’ve heard about over the years. Size does matter – the size of the bank balance to be precise.

Might we therefore suggest that Wirral Council  tries to get its own house of ill repute in order before it starts banning a bit of bump’n’ grind?

 

 

More Transport Trauma

Yesterday’s story prompted one of our readers to forward a story from the latest edition of Private Eye which also concerns local transport woes. This particular story is about non-emergency ambulance services.

Strangely this is one that , as far as we know has evaded the local press. However as you can see for yourself it speaks volumes about the shambolic decisions being made Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group and others. And it is you dear reader who pays through the nose for procurement failures and poorer services every single time !

*whispers* The people running the show on Wirral (both at  Wirral Council and Wirral University Teaching Hospital)  don’t know what they’re doing. Just sayin’……….

Transport Trauma

                    

Last week there was a serious incident involving Wirral Council transport and a vulnerable young woman which needless to say the council want to hush up.

Fortunately for us there are there are enough people out there (including some of the Council’s own staff) who are more interested in public accountability than cover ups.

From what we understand the out of hours social care team raised concerns about a missing person with an external contracted transport provider. It transpired that this r transport company hadn’t been involved in transporting the vulnerable young woman that particular  day. Accordingly the social worker then got in touch with their own transport department . Fortunately there was one member of what remains of the council’s transport team in their depot. It was just as well as he found

a vulnerable young woman , who was meant to have been dropped off at the care home where she lives, still locked in the council vehicle.

The young woman had been locked in for TWO AND A HALF HOURS and when discovered was understandably in a very distressed state.  We can only hope she’s getting the care and attention that was so sadly lacking during this shocking incident. To add insult to injury we understand the incident caused amusement the next day to some council transport staff who were under the impression that what had happened was the responsibility of the external transport provider – until that is they were put straight by appalled care home staff.

Whilst we understand that people makes mistakes (although this could be better characterised as negligence)  we don’t want to point the finger at individuals but instead direct our questions once again towards the practices and culture of Wirral Council.

Whilst there was of course the usual rush to hush everything up , clearly news has filtered out and inevitably leads us to ask some pertinent questions such as :

• Was there an escort/passenger assistant on the vehicle ? – and if not, why not? Wirral Council insist that their external contractors do so
• Was there matter reported as a safeguarding issue in accordance with Wirral Council policy and procedures so that – dare we use the dreaded phrase – lessons will be learned?
• What would have happened if an external transport provider had been responsible for such an incident?
• What support has been provided to the victim of this incident and how do Wirral Council intend to remedy their negligence? – an apology? compensation? forget it never happened?…………

 

 

 

 

Wirral Leaks Weekly Dispatch #17

THE OTHER HALF

We’ve been sent the other half of the Labour Party leaflet distributed in Birkenhead & Tranmere during the recent local election campaign..

Might we suggest that the Green Party stick to their ethical principles and recycle this leaflet next time the local elections roll around. They just need to cross out where it says : ‘Pat Cleary lives in West Kirby’ and replace it with ‘Phil Davies lives in West Kirby’.  Of course there would be very little chance of  Power Boy Pip getting elected where he actually lives. So with the Green Party increasingly making inroads in traditional Labour wards perhaps Pip will need to look for a safer seat come the next local elections. Then he won’t have to rely on his Sat Nav to steer him towards the ward he apparently represents in Birkenhead & Tranmere to find out how the other half lives.

SUFFRAGETTE CITY

Oh dear – forever late to the party here’s the Labour ladies with their kitten heels on the new carpet and their green and purple rosettes commemorating female suffrage. It must pain them to wear green and to add insult to injury doesn’t red and blue make purple? We just hope they realise that in 1918, Parliament passed an act  which only granted the vote to women over the age of 30 who were householders, the wives of householders, occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5, and graduates of British universities.It wasn’t until 1928 that a Conservative Party led Parliament passed the Representation of the People ( Equal Franchise) Act  which granted 21 year old women the right to vote on the same terms as men.

Sadly for us there is  no appearance from Wirral Leaks regular – former Labour councillor Louise Reecejones (LRJ)  –  who was quietly replaced at the recent local elections by Cllr Kate Cannon. This is consistent to the Stalinist approach that the local Labour group take when it comes to historical  events. If there’s one thing they excel at it’s erasing people and events from their own history.

COURT REPORTS

This looks like it may develop into a regular feature. The latest news is that long time Wirral Leaks contributor Nigel ‘Highbrow’ Hobro finally gets his day in court.

Birkenhead County Court – 10.30am, Tuesday 22nd May 2018  (TOMORROW) 

Now we don’t know the precise details of the case against Wirral Council so we don’t know whether any members of the public will be able to attend the hearing. However we hope to provide you details of proceedings at a later date.

As we promised in Wirral Leaks Weekly Dispatch 15 : There is still no news on the outcome of the Morton v Information Commissioner‘s Office and Wirral Borough Council case . We also understand that our other main Wirral institution is also keeping under wraps a matter that will soon come before Liverpool Crown Court. We’ll keep you posted………

And sure enough whilst there is still no news on the Morton v ICO & Wirral Council case there have been developments on the Damien Renshaw child porn case ( which as far as we know as not been reported on Wirral and which we’ve known about since his suspension and subsequent sacking .Meanwhile Wirral Globe chose to tell us about Paul Thompson ,a nurse at Arrowe Park Hospital who has been struck off by the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) for amongst many other misdemeanours  messaging a 18 year old colleague on Facebook saying he wanted ‘to give her a bed bath with his tongue’. Nice. Read more here : APH nurse struck off

Might we suggest that whilst this conduct is utterly repulsive it is hardly in the same league as former Arrowe Park Hospital IT worker Damien Renshaw . The 34 year old –  – was last week found guilty of downloading child porn. Read more here : Smirking Paedophile

It’s cases like these that provide us with an understanding of the  toxic culture within some parts of Wirral University Teaching Hospital (WUTH) than any number of independent inquiries.

AND FINALLY 

There was a news story this week where the headline read :  Shirley Ballas swears at Johnny Vegas on Celebrity Juice.  

Has the silly season arrived early ? Now we know hasbeen hoofer Ballas was born in Wallasey but as far as pitching a local angle on a (non) news story goes this is about as tenuous as it gets. What next ? Paul Hollywood eats cake on The Great British Bake Off ?

 

Memento MORI

 

The slow,painful death of public services

This year’s biennial Ipsos MORI report looking at the key findings of the 2017 Wirral Residents ‘ Survey was published earlier this week . The research was designed to explore  :

– Residents’ views on Wirral as a place to live, particularly around perceptions of litter and anti-social behaviour;

– Community involvement and social cohesion;

– Satisfaction with the Council and with specific public services;

– Resident health, with focus on prevalence of smoking and alcohol consumption;

– Well-being and resilience.

So under the circumstances you’d think that Wirral Council would be making a song and dance about the results like they did last time around – The C Word

However  Wirral Council seem to be rather coy when it comes to disseminating and discussing the results which you can read here :  Residents’ Survey 2017

We note that Wirral Council ‘leader’ Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies and their elective mute CEO Eric ‘Feeble’ Robinson shove hapless patsy and Wirral Leaks correspondent Kev ‘Lost Boy’ MacCallum into the fray to polish the stinking turd that is Wirral Council. Read here :  Public Trust has dropped significantly

Our toes instinctively curled as we read how Kev tries to rationalise why sensible people on Wirral are sick to the back teeth with the poor services and lack of respect they receive from Wirral Council.

Yes, yes, Kev the survey reflects national trends – Whatevs,babes.You’re out of your depth and always were. Now – as is your wont – you need to get lost and leave this to intelligent people who aren’t taken in by the corporate bullshit you’re paid very well to pedal. We just ain’t buyin’ what you’re sellin’! Just sayin’!

So let’s break it down. First of all can we say that Ipsos MORI are getting money for old rope when they come up with nuggets like: ” Older people are less likely to consider themselves in good health compared to younger people” and ” Generally males drink more and on a more regular basis than females” . No shit, Sherlock!

However the summary of Council services says it all for us :

 There has been a fall in resident satisfaction with a number of key performance indicators for the Council.

– Overall satisfaction with the way the Council runs things has decreased by 6 percentage points;

– Those who would be critical of the Council spontaneously or if asked has increased by 6 percentage points;

– Mistrust of the Council has increased by 8 percentage points;

– The perception that the Council does not provide value for money has increased by 9 percentage points; and

– Belief that the Council acts on residents’ concerns has decreased by 5 percentage points.

However what is particularly shameful is the evidence that the Wirral Council funded Wirral View has failed SPECTACULARLY and EXPENSIVELY.  ‘The majority of residents (60%) do not feel that the council keeps them well informed about the services it provides. This does mean, that six in ten residents feel ill informed”. Which as the survey notes : “Compared to their peers, Wirral Council has significantly more negative results.” 

So much for addressing the alleged ‘information deficit’ or attracting advertising revenue (but then Wirral Globe has them over a barrel on that score!) Not for the first time we say its time to put the scabby dog that is Wirral View out of its misery. Not that those who run Wirral Council will – they just expect us to put up and pay up for their egotistical bullshit. Which, might we suggest, more than anything, explains the damning results of the Ipsos MORI survey!

https://wirralleaks.wordpress.com/2017/04/06/where-wirral-view-goes-to-die/

 

Pip’s Cabinet Kerfuffle

Following the local election comes the the arrival of the new civic year with the Mayor-making ceremony held earlier this week at Wallasey Town Hall which witnessed  Tory Cllr Geoffrey Watt installed as this year’s incumbent. Watt’s yawn-inducing acceptance speech gave Wirral Council CEO Eric ‘Feeble’ Robinson the opportunity to do what he does best – multitasking. By which we mean blinking and looking utterly vacant .

Council ‘leader’ Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies then did what he does best  by rewarding failure – in this case we mean nominating former Cabinet member responsible for Children’s Services , Cllr Tony Smith to be Deputy Mayor (and therefore next year’s Mayor). This follows the inglorious record of failed and disgraced councillors who have been Labour’s nomination to be Wirral’s first citizen following on from the likes of Cllr Moira McLaughlin and Cllr Steve Foulkes.

Pip later moved on make the announcement of a Cabinet shake-up which involved the creation of new portfolios and the dropping of Cllr Christine Spriggs from Leisure and Recreation in favour of Cllr Philip ‘Brightboy’ Brightmore . We can only wonder what prompted Pip to oust Spriggs – but we have a fairly good idea.  The other change of note is Cllr Paul Stuart heading up ‘Law and Order’ (no laughing at the back). Might we suggest that Stuart’s first test will be the argy-bargy brewing with Wirral Council staff who are part of the much heralded ‘Safer Wirral Hub’ at Solar Campus (more on that developing story later.)

Meanwhile here’s a Labour sources interesting observations on the recent election campaign , The Contact Company and the current Labour cabinet

Dear Wirral Leaks,

During the campaign in Birkenhead & Tranmere, it was widely known throughout the Labour camp that they were keeping record of Labour members within the ward who were planning on voting Green. It was claimed by Sheila Murphy, a delegate to Wirral Labour’s LCF, and Paul Jobson the Labour candidate that members who say on the doorstep they will vote Green can be removed from the party.

It is my understanding speaking to North West branch that this is false. Members may vote for whoever they choose as it is a secret ballot, provided they do not campaign for another party. It is my belief this was an intimidation tactic used by the Labour campaign to force members to vote Green.

However, if such a list exists separately from the data political parties may keep when knocking on the doorstep, then there would possibly be a legal infringement.

You may have also picked up a leaflet printed about Pat Cleary during the campaign, much of which was a personal attack up Pat rather than over policies. It should be noted that on Twitter many Labour members made their feelings clear over personal attacks against candidates rather than those on policies.

However, it is not only members who were being forced to get behind the campaign.

Wirral Council’s cabinet were also whipped to attend campaign days in Birkenhead & Tranmere on “action saturdays”, and it was only until this issue was raised by Labour’s LCF that other target seats were included too. Again, this was well known throughout the Labour campaign.

The pouring of resources into Birkenhead & Tranmere it is well known is less to do with a fear of Pat Cleary, and more due to the fact that there is a fear Phil Davies will lose his seat next year and throwing everything into the ward this year was meant to stem the Green tide. However, it may have come at the cost of Pensby, and the possibility of winning other seats.

One final note, an investigative piece into workers rights in The Contact Company, and Phil Davies and Liverpool City Region’s links to the company and its owner Asif may be well worth a look in to. Agency workers  on minimum wage, 13 week, zero hours contracts working over 40 hours a week, many getting sacked for spurious reasons linked to a LABOUR council leader…. you get the idea.

Please respect my anonymity, but understand I am only trying to uncover what is going on behind the scenes because the majority of Wirral Labour Party want this current cabinet out, and are in fact good people.

  Yours Faithfully,

  A Labour Source.

We managed to track down copies of the offending leaflets referred to above on Twitter courtesy of  @LuciBella_

Inspiral Carpets

We knew it wouldn’t be long before one of you good people came up with the goods. Here’s a picture of the new carpet in the Wallasey Town Hall council chamber.

Is it just us or does it look like the last thing you see just before you blackout after drinking Sangria in the sun all afternoon ? Not that we’ve ever had a such a blackout you understand……

Whilst we understand the laying of the carpet is almost complete we don’t know, as yet ,how much the final bill is for the migraine -inducing black and gold swirls is ……although we’re sure one of you can find out!

Whatever the cost it’s like “walking on air”, apparently. Isn’t it truly inspirational  that in these times of austerity the council can find a few bob down the back of the sofa so that the Wirral power elite can tread softly on council taxpayers dreams?

Meanwhile rumours that the limo featured in the following video clip (appropriately titled ‘Black & Gold)  is the new Mayoral conveyance have been denied by a Wirral Council spokesperson who is reported to have said : ” Who do you think you are ? Know your place – you’re just here to pay the bills ……”