We said we’d get back and report on the inevitable demise of the most misbegotten, woebegotten and soon forgotten contribution to ‘journalism’ known as Wirral View.
And – Oh! What at a wretched rag it was.
Apparently according to the Wirral Globe , who ironically got the ‘exclusive’ on this story, Wirral Council is pulling the life support machine on this ‘information deficit’ atrocity funded by public money in October.
Needless to say we called this pisspoor propaganda paper from the get go in our Warped View post from 2016.
Despite the fact that the former and not missed at all CEO of Wirral Council Eric ‘Feeble’ Robinson lied about the fact that Wirral View was not seeking advertisement revenue to achieve the infamous Martin Liptrot’s aim of putting Wirral Globe out of business, Wirral View was allowed to stagger on until the editor of Wirral Globe got his hands on the ‘Wirralgate’ tapes in July 2017 and Wirral View’s days were inevitably numbered.
Consequently we were drawn to this comment in the Wirral Globe report:
Our health correspondent Dr Love provides us with a commentary on recent events concerned with the proposed closure of two local walk in centres and the role of the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Cllr Christine Jones. It really makes you wonder whether they’ve ‘got a thing going on’…
Dear chum
Councillor Christine Jones is the joint chair of Wirral’s Joint Strategic Commissioning Board.
She acquiesced when their recent meeting was turned into – for the most important item on the agenda – a meeting of the CCG Board. ‘Legal’ because Council and NHS budgets aren’t ‘pooled’ for the related purpose, but a smack in the gob for councillors. (And see the John Brace reference below.)
The CCG agreed unanimously to close two walk-in centres.
Cllr Jones forgets to say that ANY closures had been opposed unanimously the previous week by a joint meeting of Wirral and Cheshire West and Chester Councils attended by Labour and Tory councillors.
She repeats the argument that people were ‘confused’ about existing services. NO reasonable evidence has ever been presented for this.
She accepts that there will be improvements in NHS111 (now rechristened variously ‘Ask Alexa’ and ‘Fuck off and die’).
She accepts that axed services will allegedly be covered by extra GP appointments, ignores the 100,000 missing NHS doctors and nurses, and accepts the CCG’s clear statement that this appointment system won’t necessarily be with a GP but with various assistants (less skilled, lower paid).
She fails to follow her own Council’s and her Party’s policies to oppose any closures.
She forgets that her party’s policy (nationally and locally) is to oppose the whole ‘sustainability and transformation partnership’ edifice, of which the CCG and its cut and pasted plans are part.
Her colleague who follows her is also worth listening to – for different reasons.
But the most jaw-dropping feature of this sorry episode is that last month she wrote to a local campaigner and said, “The community consultation the CCG delivered on the urgent care review proposals showed unequivocally strong opposition to any closure of walk in centres. I stand by the wishes of Wirral residents and council and will oppose any closure of services”.
Campaigners expect councillors (especially from the ‘people’s party’) to have a grasp of the ideology behind the rapid dismantling and demoralisation of the NHS. Our little local difficulty is simply a tiny part of the ambitions of those who would beg a trade deal from Trump and leave any bits which they haven’t already plundered to the slavering jaws of United Health of Minneapolis (the previous employer of NHSE boss Simon Stevens and with huge existing NHS contracts including via its Optum system).
The meeting video also shows Cllr Tony Norbury saying what a blow this is to the people of Birkenhead. Perhaps he’s failed to notice that elements within Birkenhead Labour – as well as Frank N Field and the local GP who runs an excellent ‘saved’ walk-in centre – are jubilant because ‘their’ Globe-splashed campaign had such a victory.
In all of the recent local press coverage about the proposed closure of Wirral’s NHS Walk–In Centres it seemed to us it was a case of mutual arse-kissing with Frank Field/Abhi Mantegni/Wirral Globe thanking each other for saving us all from the bleeding obvious decision that closing local NHS Walk-In Centres makes no sense whatsoever – economically or politically.
Meanwhile our unrelenting friends at Defend Our NHS were dismissed and unnamed in these reports as ‘campaigners’.
So let’s give these true defenders their due and support their efforts to save us from a fate worse than a total fuck up.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but we’re not seeking anyone’s approval, least of all that of a ‘Local Democracy Reporter’ serving the local main stream media , but really would it be a crumb of comfort if we said he’s really taken the biscuit this week?
A mere 4 days later we had this from the lazy plagiarist :
What we really loved though is that a virtually identical article appeared in the Liverpool Echo two days later. We’ve got to give it to the lanky scribbler he’s making a little talent go a long way as he earnestly asks: What’s being done to tackle the town’s crippling mental health problem?
What is particularly chucklesome is that an article about why is Birkenhead such a depressing shithole is accompanied by a picture of our favourite Local Democracy Reporter chillaxin’ in Venice, which may stink like a shithole, but at least it doesn’t have Frank Field as it’s MP. Just sayin’…
What differentiates the Echo/Globe articles from us is that the former gets quotes from the main man himself as Birkenhead’s MP Frank Field has called the reports “horrifying”, and has this week tabled a parliamentary question, asking the Department of Health and Social Care to look into and act on the root causes behind them.
Mr Field added: “All too many people in Birkenhead are being pushed into the depths of poverty and despair. I’m seeking answers in Parliament around the difficulties that people often encounter when trying to access mental health services.I’m also pushing the Government on the need for firm action to address the root causes of depression and poor mental health in our town.”
Seeking answers in Parliament ? We’re sure they’ve got bigger fish to fry right now and might we suggest Frank that you won’t find them there anyway. Have a good look around the constituency you have ill-served for 40 years – it’s the scum that run Wirral – including you – that are the problem and NOT the solution. Of course it would be impolite and impolitic for a Local Democracy Reporter, keen for a quote, to express such a view but at least he won’t be leeching off us as a news source for much longer. We’re clearing the decks for news features that you definitely won’t see featured in Wirral Globe/Liverpool Echo even when the biggest scoop in Wirral’s political history has been sitting on the Wirral Globe editor’s desk since July 7th 2017…
You won’t be reading this in Wirral View or Wirral Globe and certainly not Wirral Life but research by the Guardian shows the most depressed neighbourhoods in England are all in the north and the Midlands and as you can see above four of the top 15 are in and around Birkenhead.
But then that’s what you get when the local MP invites a ‘stunning lawyer’ who he worked with in the Child Poverty Action Group with the expectation of career advancement via the endless supply of poor/depressed people to Birkenhead. What a ‘stunning’ legacy they leave behind.
The good news for those hitting the Sertraline and other unprescribed supplements of their own choice to get them through the daily grind of living in Birkenhead is that Frank Field is well and truly on his way out .
With the election of not one but two Green councillors in Birkenhead it has to be the case that in the words of that great pop philosopher Yazz , ‘ The Only Way is Up’…
This time it’s the local Labour Party that are at it (for circa £5K a pop). And needless to say what a pisspoor job they make of it. In the absence of any radical political ideas of their own they just resort to the mantra ‘ Tory Cuts’ (not a typo) which seems to be the order of the day. The front page contains 5 variations on this theme (count ’em). Valid maybe, but bloody repetitive and lazy at the same time…
Talking of right wing the big news on the Labour front is that right out of left field (or should that be right field?) we hear that Cllr Paul Stuart is currently being promoted as the future Labour Group leader of choice of those who get a bit upset when it comes to the words ‘socialist’, ‘democracy’ and ‘Corbyn’.
We’re not complaining . With Cllr Stuart as ‘Leader’ of anything whatsoever it will be like shooting fish in a barrel when it comes to political satire…
The redoubtable Wirral Against The Litter Police (Kingdom Security) Facebook page is currently a meeting point/melting pot for interested parties seeking to expunge Kingdom Security from our shores and high streets and car parks and promenades and country parks and bus stations and …you get the drift …
All political denominations are there – look there’s the Lib Dems belatedly requisitioning a ‘Special Council meeting’…
…and oh look over there , the 4 Labour CLPs are calling for Kingdom to be kicked to the kerb and elsewhere high flying Labour councillor Jo Bird offering her support…
…and then there’s the Green Party reminding everyone that their sole councillor Pat Cleary was the only one to vote against a motion where Wirral Council rejected criticism of Kingdom’s conduct…
…and of course there’s Tom ‘Media’ Houghton picking up the scraps promising write ups in the Echo and Globe (in that order obvs) and celebrity shop owners Sean Martin and Cathy Roberts brandishing their letters and sweet wrappers respectively and now mainstream media favourites. Ms Roberts also achieved what we consider the ultimate accolade in social media by appearing on the Angry People in Local Newspapers Facebook page.
Indeed we understand that the Fry’s Chocolate Orange wrapper , although not being the sweet wrapper that resulted in a threatened £300 fine, has its own agent and publicist and is in negotiations for a reality TV series. Oh and there’s even a link to Wirral Globe’s Granty’s Infernal column where there was no conflict of interest acknowledged but at least we got a passing mention…
Don’t get us wrong these are observations not criticisms .We’re celebrating both a growing political consensus and the tireless efforts of campaigners. Nor are we after bragging rights that Wirral Leaks first raised concerns about Kingdom way back in 2015. After all we are commentators not campaigners and our weapons of choice are sarcasm and satire. However the point we want to make (and we do have one) is that much of Wirral only get involved in local politics when something impacts on them directly – be it being hassled on the street or issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice by Kingdom operatives. But remember whilst you may not always be interested in local politics , local politicians are always interested in you and involved in almost every aspect of your life…
We continue our series of commenting further on this week’s news stories by asking you to spot the difference between these two reports published yesterday in the Liverpool Echo and the Wirral Globe
Our first comment was that we loved the use of ACTUALLY , in UPPERCASE – the written equivalent on standing with your hands on your hips and saying we know better than you,ner,ner,ner,ner,ner…
Although ACTUALLY we don’t think ACTUALLY is the right word here as it refers to the truth and the facts of a situation not the usual Wirral Council pipedream.
However what we didn’t love was the further erosion of local press plurality as BBC funded ‘Local Democracy Reporter’, Tom ‘Media’ Houghton , provides an official BBC approved version of the local news which follows a familiar pattern of the same story being a big splash in the Liverpool Echo before becoming a little ripple in the Wirral Globe .
Clearly this was Wirral’s finger-wagging riposte to the negative response from commentators and bloggers to the press announcement earlier in the week that Wirral Council had bought Vue cinema for £7 million and which we reported in our Birkenhead – A Tomb with a Vue post.
Luckily for Wirral Council there was a fearless ‘Local Democracy Reporter’ at hand ( or more accurately on the receiving the end of an email from the Wirral Council Press Office) to put the record straight ( or rather unquestioningly publish some quick copy and a picture from the photo library) .
The MSM message being : ‘Oh no you nay-sayers and doubters, cash -strapped Wirral Council, who are reknowned for their business acumen, haven’t spent £7 million on a fleapit ! Nay,nay and thrice nay we’ve paid £7 million to demolish it!…’
Well, that’s alright then!…and what’s more they’re going to replace it with artist’s impressions. Lots of ’em – and they’ll all be dutifully published in the Liverpool Globe and then the Wirral Echo or the the other way round – we get confused!
As to whether these artist’s impressions ACTUALLY happen is open to question but we’re going to put this out there – and it may surprise you but we think they just might! However looking at some of the councillors who would be involved in making the decisions , particularly the Cabinet Member for Housing & Planning and the Chair of the Planning Committee, we wouldn’t be surprised if it was ACTUALLY as dodgy AF…
Earlier this week there was an announcement in the Wirral Globe that there was a Major revamp planned for Bebington’s Oval leisure centre . We were told that plans were to be approved by Wirral Council’s ruling cabinet later this month for the £775,000 upgrade and Cabinet member for leisure, Cllr Phill ‘Two L and Back’ Brightmore, said (no doubt in a press release written by someone else) :
The Oval – which famously was used to film key scenes of the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire – is one of Wirral Leisure’s flagship leisure centres, unique in the borough boasting a 25m competition pool, athletics track, football pitches, and tennis courts.
These improvements form part of a larger investment in Wirral’s leisure services, ensuring that they remain accessible and affordable for all residents, and represents another excellent example of Wirral Council’s careful management of its budget at a time of continuing pressure on local government finances.
Our services are extensive and Wirral Council invests £5 million a year in making sure that statement remains true, in addition to more than £8 million invested in the past few years on making sure our services are of the best possible quality…
So as is our wont we thought we’d bring you the reality behind the pre-election spin and report on events at The Oval from last night and from information we received late last year about a previous £1 million upgrade .
‘A concerned parent of a child who attends The Oval swimming club’ writes :
I think the council needs to be reminded about the cost in lives and not pounds that failure in fire safety can have if a real emergency took place. Remember Grenfell???
There was a power failure in Bebington last night whilst my child was in the pool at the Oval and it was very dark in quite a lot of areas. It was quite a scary experience.. staff to be fair did well, but when we stated it was the dark areas that upset us , and scared the children they quite openly and honestly stated that they have had problems for years with the emergency lights, and that the pool area only came on because staff constantly complained about it and it was only recently repaired otherwise that would have been also in complete darkness .
This is a big shock and I and many other parents are seeking reassurance from the council that the building is safe. Whilst staff were helpful the biggest surprise was their anger. We could hear one staff member say : “ I am *** fed up telling them but they never listen , they never come out, they don’t want to see what we have to put up with, they won’t move from the Concourse *** the lot of them.” When we asked another staff member what that meant , they said it was a reference to senior managers who never visit and never listen to staffs real issues like emergency lights not working.”
So what happens when there has been upgrades at The Oval in the past ? We were sent this photo and comments last November
The Oval Bebington
Newly built kitchen cafe at least 6 months old. Inc in the fixtures and fittings a £3500 coffee machine, a new oven sat for months unpacked (now possibly missing) value £10,000+
None of this has ever been used and may never be used.
Needless to say we asked ‘How come?’ only to be told:
No idea, it appeared soon after the gym renovations at the Oval. It got built/fitted but has not been used. A lot of wasted cash. Maybe they can’t get anyone to run it within. Or not financially viable to external operators. Either way it’s very expensive and all quality stuff. Likesay the oven was sat there still unpacked for months and I’m not sure if now fitted or disappeared.
Although we understand the above was part of a previous £1 million upgrade of The Oval announced in 2016 more recent enquiries of a well placed source suggest the situation remains the same:
The white elephant .They had plans to hire someone. I think there is a tale to tell on that. Badly designed and not fire compliant. Also as asset management don’t seek planning permission to alter a structure because they are a law unto themselves…
However we’d be quite happy if Cllr Brightmore could reassure us that this is no longer the case and that there are ‘robust’ plans to ensure that in the future £775,000 of public money will not be going down The Oval’s notoriously dodgy drains. Might we suggest it’s time to move on from past glories as Wirral Council are rapidly running out of money as fast as Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams on anabolic steroids…
We were alerted to the fact that Cllr Chris Meaden had changed the party status on the Wirral Council website and that she now classed herself as ‘Independent’. This struck us as somewhat ironic as Cllr Meaden aways struck us as one of those councillors who did as they were told by the local Labour Party elite and was quite content to be swept along on Rock Ferry councillor Moira McLaughlin’s coat-tails as it was an easy ride. We were once again minded to recall that old joke Q: What’s the difference between a supermarket trolley and Cllr Chris Meaden ? A: A Supermarket trolley has a mind of its own.
The belated declaration of ‘independence’ was all very reminiscent of an adolescent flouncing off Facebook when no-one is paying them any attention and hoping for a few ‘U OK Huns ?’
Despite the Liverpool Echo headline Yet ANOTHER top Labour politician quits party -blaming ‘hard-left’ takeover our initial reaction to such a political hasbeen was CBA. However reading the local media coverage it is clear that Meaden has taken her acting out her adolescent angst to another level and be seen a-bitchin’ and a-snipin’ and a-moanin’ all over the local papers (the story in the Wirral Globe written by the same ‘Local Democracy Reporter’ Tom Houghton is a barely disguised re-write ) . As washing your dirty linen in public goes, the soon to be ex- councillor Meaden seems to have dug out the skiddy undies from the bottom of the washing basket , talking of ‘verbal attacks’ , ‘public attacks’ and ‘double standards’ . Much of her bitterness is directed towards Yvonne Nolan , her successor as Labour Party candidate for the Rock Ferry ward.
I believe over the coming months more information about Ms Nolan`s past involvement with politics will emerge and I don’t believe she is fit to serve the people of Rock Ferry. With her term coming to an end this spring, Cllr Meaden was ousted at a selection meeting back in October. But she said some of those present had “never attended” a branch meeting, while others had “never so much as delivered a leaflet’.That makes me believe that the meeting was packed with the aim of removing me and replacing me with Yvonne Nolan and the intention is to bring her in to lead the group.
Now we can’t comment at this stage whether Nolan is fit to serve the people of Rock Ferry but we do know that there are a few current Labour councillors who are DEFINITELY unfit for public office but has Cllr Meaden ever publicly voiced her concerns about them? No, she hasn’t ! – and it suggests to us that the Rock Ferry selection committee made the right decision in getting rid of someone who was quite happy to follow the orders of a PROVEN dishonest,bullying and controlling Labour cabal whilst it suited her which makes her declaration of independence nothing more than an exercise in pointlessness.
Wirralleaks 