Just a quick reminder that our first items of official club merchandise are on sale from the club office from 10am till 4pm today.

Polo shirts, t-shirts and 1/4 zip tops are available and although sizes are limited this morning, a delivery of a wider range of sizes is expected later in the day.

It is also worth remembering that season tickets also remain on sale from the club office – or over the phone on 01432 268 257 – so please feel free to pop in and say hello to Commercial Manager Chris Ammonds or Operations Director Ken Kinnersley

Full details from the Hereford Football Club Website

https://wirralinittogether.wordpress.com/2015/05/10/uk-labours-tories-are-running-away-from-their-own-proven-human-rights-abuses-and-worse/

9th May 2015

The dirty deed has been done and we’re reeling from the news that we’re about to be subjected to another 5 years of Conservative rule; but this time around, without the pretense of a ‘modifying influence’ from any coalition party.

And just to add insult to injury to those who were told their vote mattered, turning up and putting our cross in the box perversely ensured that over 1 million votes cast for the Green Party translated nationally into just one Westminster seat – Brighton.

In the run-up to the election, I’ve been busy on Twitter, advising those who need to know about it (i.e. everyone possible, but in particular, potential Labour voters) of the abuses and long term crookedness that’s been carried out in their name here on Wirral.  Sample tweet here (click to follow):

These are proven abuses, listed and highlighted within comprehensive, externally commissioned reports, undertaken by professional, largely ‘independent’ investigators.

Here are links to two of them:

Independent Review of Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council’s Response to Claims Made by Mr Martin Morton (and Others) – carried out by Anna Klonowski Associates

Report of an Investigation Into the Treatment of Martin Morton in Relation to His Allegations of Abuse of Power / Bullying – carried out by Martin Smith of North West Employers

Although questions persist about thoroughness and process, and despite the redactions and obliterations still in place years later, there’s no denying the factual nature of these findings.  They were damning.  This was disabled abuse / disability discrimination / bullying / abuse of power writ large – and all in defiance of not just the council’s duty of care towards its own whistleblowing employee, but the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 and its statutory obligation towards the care of vulnerable residents within its own jurisdiction – which went on for up to nine years.

The one thing we can still criticise to this day is despite the awful nature of the findings, there’s been absolutely no accountability for those heavily-involved in the learning disabled abuse, the bullying, the mobbing and all the associated ugliness, criminal conduct, malpractice, malfeasance, obfuscation and the ongoing cover up of all the above.

Because at the forefront, sweeping all before it, was the Labour-controlled council’s desire to protect and conceal.

Elements of the cover up are still in place to this day e.g. redactions to documents and reports which serve to conceal the identities of gagged senior officer abusers who’ve either moved on under compromise (settlement) agreements with clean bills of health and associated pay offs... (See Bill Norman, now causing ructions at Herefordshire County Council)

...or who still remain working for the council following an LGA ‘improvement board’ – which has been watched closely, before being heavily and justifiably derided by the local public. Browse elsewhere within this blog for more on this.

In fact instead of an anticipated moment of reckoning for the abusers, we’ve had the opposite.  The chief perpetrator behind the learning disabled abuse, accreditation of gangster care companies, and subsequent cover up (including the theft of £736,756.97 from the bank accounts of at least 16, but an undeclared larger number of learning disabled service users, at least five of whom are now dead) and the portfolio holder for Social Services AND leader at the time, Councillor Steve Foulkes, has been elevated to Mayor of Wirral.

His period of office ends around now, but a massive and hideous injustice has been perpetrated which forms a cynical rewriting of history, mainly through the endorsing actions of Councillor Phil Davies, the council leader who took over from Foulkes.

I won’t go into precise detail again on the events as it’s all referred to in depth throughout this blog and others; but my Twitter campaign of late has thrown up a few surprises, both before and since the result of the general election emerged and took shape – a slender Conservative majority.

Here’s a few twitter user names that need flushing out into the open for the purposes of this blog post.  In one way or another, they’re all prominent Labour members or supporters who’ve been very public and very vocal at election time in their own inimitable ways…

…however, not in keeping with their heavily-promoted public “election imageâ€, they’ve also been strangely reticent when it comes to registering, acknowledging, seeing, confirming and admitting that there’s been hideous disabled abuse carried out by their own party â€“ the one that they claim to support, cherish, love, etc. etc.

@SadiqKhan â€“ Labour MP for Tooting since 2005; posted this tweet on May 6th 2015, the day before the general election.  He has ignored my input ever since:

@AdamWagner1 â€“ Barrister at 1 Crown Office Row â€“ mentioned in the above tweet. If he’s reading this post, he may instantly recognise certain human rights breaches by Wirral Council, proceeding unchecked.

“Only one major party will protect #HumanRIghts after the election†– delighted @AdamWagner1 is voting @UKLabour http://t.co/IQanvnaSQ1

— Sadiq Khan MP (@SadiqKhan) May 6, 2015

@MarkFerguson â€“ Editor of LabourList â€“ posted this tweet after the election on May 8th 2015:

A desperately ironic and unwitting response came in from somebody called Matthew Harrison…

Seems the Tory government’s priorities are constituency boundaries, spying on your emails and binning the human rights act. So it begins… — Mark Ferguson (@Markfergusonuk) May 9, 2015

…to which I responded, but I kept most of my replies for @markfergusonuk, the person at the centre of it.

My position on this issue, that of the abuse of Wirral’s learning disabled people and the repeated breaches of their human rights, is a simple and straightforward one.  A person cannot occupy a platform claiming that the movement he is involved in is honest, fair, decent, civilised, protective of people, just and possessed of modern values if there are unaddressed ugly truths that have been minimised, diminished in some way or worst of all deliberately concealed from the public in order to present a controlled, managed, and dishonest face to the world.

I allege that the above three persons have been engaged in reputation management by omission. They knew before the election about what happened on Wirral because I told them in some detail about it – by providing links to a number of court cases that arose as a result of proven disabled abuse or proven disability discrimination and the ensuing bullying, mobbing and removal of social worker whistleblower Martin Morton in response.

Here are links to blog posts I have written about these legal cases:

Disability Discrimination:

DLA PIPER1

DLA PIPER2

DLA PIPER3

DLA PIPER4

DLA PIPER5

Learning disabled abuse:

TRIBUNAL1

TRIBUNAL2

One of the persons mentioned above, @adamwagner1 is a highly-qualified barrister here in the UK, who operates at a high level in the area of human rights, no less.  In fact, he’s also founder of the UK Human Rights Blog and a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the same body that found there was unaddressed disability discrimination occurring at Wirral Council – only to withdraw that finding later and remove the person who arrived at it subsequently.

Precisely why is @adamwagner1 silent on these Wirral issues?  In the absence of any response, we have to go digging and try to see whether his wider involvement is all it’s cracked up to be.  Do Labour party fortunes trump all else, even cases of proven abuse?

Why’s he mingling with people who need to recognise and acknowledge that turds are turds, and they need to be scooped up and thrown out?

Do they need to muck out their own dirty stables before registering and condemning the abuse, then with at least a modicum of restored credibility, go after the Tories with a clear conscience?

And what about the rewards for abuse? In the case of Wirral, with the chief perpetrator elevated to Mayor, this outrage has to be acknowledged as such and a full apology made.

See the following tweet for a sense of the apparent determination and resolve (that @Adamwagner1 is prepared to go public on)… to fight for the retention of the Human Rights Act now that the Tories are planning to go ahead and dispense with it:

https://twitter.com/AdamWagner1/status/596560927245348865

Editor of Labourlist @markfergusonuk appears to be afflicted by the same malaise; this failure to speak up and defend / condemn his party’s conduct.  So we’re forced to question his credibility, and to raise similar queries about motives, intentions, loyalties, allegiances.

What’s paramount in your own plans if you’re prepared to keep shtum, ride it out and say nothing when your own organisation has been found up to its neck in the most callous conduct imaginable?

Here’s a tweet from Mark showing that he is indeed capable of recognising and responding to opinions that he disagrees with:

I’m now asking @MarkFergusonuk, editor of LabourList, to condemn:

• Wirral Council’s disabled abuse over 9 years
• the theft of approaching three quarters of a million pounds from “sitting duck†vulnerable people’s bank accounts
• the thuggery, and the bullying, mobbing and disposal of whistleblower Martin Morton
• the creation of false bank accounts by organised crime groups
• the accreditation of gangsters who formed ‘care’ companies
• the ensuing Local Government Association cover up
• the worthlessness of Local Government Chronicle Awards such as “Most Improved Councilâ€, bestowed on Wirral. (With crushing hindsight, see the LGC Award for Rotherham Children’s Services in 2008 at the height of unchecked child abuse)

…and I’d like him to use the same terms to describe this horror show that he so readily deployed here, when he loftily criticised an incoming tweet.  â€œHideously diabolically…etc.â€

If I read one more thread that involves a departing Councillor, an incoming Councillor or a failed Candidate telling me and everyone else how lessons have been learned, how from hereon Independents and Its Our County should work more closely together and try to become more pragmatic and more strategic in their thinking I'll spit phlegm.

And What'smore, please stop congratulating one another, being ever so kind and gracious and saying 'I'll help you all I can' and telling me that the next time we are gifted the golden opportunity and given another chance we'll get it right and stop the Hereford Conservatives from holding on to the levers of power. Don't tell me these things anymore.

Don't tell me these things now. Not now. In fact, never again. Not after the whole lot of you have buggered it all up and allowed the Conservatives to carry on with a clear mandate to do exactly what they did before when we got given a bucket of sludge and a bill for near on a hundred million pounds. No, from hereon, stop telling me that the next time everything will be different. It should have been different this time but it wasn't. It wasn't because of one simple and straightforward human failing. Ego, greed for local celebrity and a deep yearning to hold office that says, 'You are elected Councillor'.

Shame on all of you that have represented Its Our County and Independents. Instead of being pragmatic and strategic thinkers now, you've all decided to do that in four years bloody time which, given my predicament, ain't a lovely thing to hear and is of no comfort to me.

Why weren't you pragmatic and strategic thinking before we all went into the Polling booths knowing full well that the IOC and Independent vote would be split allowing bloody Johnson, Bramer and Morgan in through the back door. You didn't do it because you all individually wanted the prize.

You wanted to become Councillors and the consequences of that decision didn't bloody matter because egos and a greed for personal glory got in the way of what was best for our home Herefordshire.

And dont blame the Conservatives. It's not their bloody fault. It's yours and I'll never forgive your stupidity for thinking that in some way IOC and Independents would somehow emerge from this delusional dream, grab a hold of the levers of power and lead us all toward a more open and honest democratic future.

If me and my mates down the pub could see this coming then why couldn't you? You didn't see it coming because most of you are dull, you lack imagination and you put your own personal ambitions before the greater good which was, getting rid of this vile strain of Conservativism that's had a stranglehold on all of us these past few years.

And why am I qualified to be able to communicate my feelings in this way? Because I've given near on five years of my bloody time helping to give you lot a reasonable platform and a solid foundation to be able to compete with the Conservative administration.

Yes, me and a bunch of others who've moaned, groaned and bloody grumbled our way through it all tapping on a bloody keyboard complaining about this, that and the bloody other.

You've buggered it up. The Candidates for Its Our County and the Independents are the ones responsible for our predicament and it's all because none of you were strong enough to say what needed to be said when your respective leaders called a pre election strategy meeting enquiring, 'what shall we do to get rid of the Tory administration. You didn't say anything because you were to weak and to keen to grasp the prize and you are all to blame for the mess we are all now in.

Do I bloody care what you think and what your responses might be for this bucket of phlegm I've just tipped on your heads? No! I couldn't care bloody less because I'm done wasting my time pretending to myself that there was ever any bloody point to it all.

For the fourth and final time I bloody quit on my rotten stool. Quite simply I've got better things to do than waste my time helping to prepare the ground for Candidates who couldn't think for themselves and say, 'if we ain't careful we'll cut our own throats and allow the Conservatives another tenure at the helm of the good ship HMS Hereford.

I've been stewing for days about this and I now feel liberated because I've poured scorn on every single Candidate who convinced themselves that 'the strategy' was the right one for this particular election. Bloody idiots the lot of you!

There was a happy ending, but this was a near miss that could have turned out very differently, and ended up with hungry people being jailed for trying to feed their families.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/how-expected-live-judge-slams-5682582

It was very lucky that the judge appeared to possess a heart and a social conscience, unlike so many people out there who are too stupid to resist the wider aim of this Conservative government, which is to set people at each others throats, step back, wait, then step in and profit from the destruction and unrest that they have sown.

Shame on them and everybody who ever endorsed them.

I would like to say thank you to the people who have supported me over the past 12 years as councillor for Newton Farm until 7th May. Obviously I am disappointed that I am now unable to carry on the work that I started last year of continuing the road and pavement resurfacing that has been done in Waterfield road, Masefield Ave, Charlton Ave. and Kingfisher road I hope Belfour Beatty will now resurface the roads and pavements as requested by me in Ethelstan Crescent upper Waterfield road Treago Grove and Goodrich Grove as arranged for end May to August.

I have just found one of these leaflets, looks like they have some influence with their members on voting perhaps...

Hidden agenda?

Only been to the old market once since it opened and that was in Waitrose. Anyone else who have not really bothered with the place or think that it offers nothing for them?

It do not offer anything for me to be honest. It is the posh part of the city.

A Herefordshire Council planner, Ange Tyler, has given up her job to stand as an Independent candidate in the Aylestone ward. Full story over at HT.

Tim Price is to stand as an Independent in Whitecross.

Amanda Martin is standing for IOC in Widemarsh.

Anybody know of any more.....??!

I saw this picture courtesy of WMAS on the Hereford Times website announcing another road traffic incident. I'm pleased that the young driver wasn't to badly injured however what caught my eye was the shocking near invisible solid white lines. These are applied for good reason so the very fact that they are almost missing confirms to me how bad are county roads have become. I remember just over a year ago driving into Ashperton from Trumpet I noticed just by the school that the solid white lines had been refreshed however they painted through a pothole in the middle of the road.Things are going to get worse.

I was under the impression that candidates have rules to abide by when campaigning and from my understanding one of those strict rules is that you cannot put up your signage within a certain distance of a Polling Station, well, I think this sign of Lucy Hurds is pretty close don't you think? 

In the Hereford Times this week(?) there's a piece on the new black bins that will be delivered and a picture of some **** councillor.

It states - and is corroborated on the council website*, that these black wheelie bins must;

Not exceed 4 black bags

Each black bag to not exceed 15kg

Each bag should not exceed 410 x 760 x 915mm

Are you having a f+">:** laugh? Can we get some councillor's input on this please? Maybe the bellend in the paper who thinks this is a good idea.

4 black bags per FORTNIGHT, some families have that per week, this is absolutely ridiculous.

And let me guess, if we exceed the "limits" you'll leave the rubbish on our doorstep with a note, leaving it for 4 weeks just to refuse it again because now it's double.

I tell you what, my rubbish goes in my bin, I pay you pricks to collect it, if you refuse to collect it, I'll be making missed rubbish calls to get you back out and that's going to start to cost you a hell of a lot more.

Also, as I never had response to this before, explain to me what's going to happen as central government are planning to make fortnightly collections illegal. 

* https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/environmental-protection/waste-management/refuse-household-bin-collection/alternate-weekly-bin-collections

Well this part of the election is almost done and its been great to see an increase in the activity on the site.

I've set up a small tab at the Costa in town so please feel free to have a Coffee on me. Once the gift card is gone it's gone, so just drinks if you please. I'm hoping to get a similar tab set up for the old market Costa but just need to check with the manager Anthony first.

Just state you are a Hereford Voice member and its compliments of GK.

All the very best.

Green Knight

With less than five weeks to polling day, there have been some remarkable changes across the city, doubtless to demonstrate what a fine administration is running this city and county - and deserves being returned on 7th May.

Residents along Bodenham Road (now part of the hotly-contested Aylestone Hill Ward) awoke last week to discover that its entire length (and adjoining roads) had been yellow-lined, outlawing Tech College student parking.

This week, a team of Balfour Beatty sign erectors put up a huge hoarding at the end of Commercial Road, announcing: 'Hereford City Link Road. Delivering jobs and housing.' What actual jobs the council will deliver with this pointless £25-million farce (apart from more jobs for the boys inside the cosy Plough Lane Lubyanka) is difficult to discern. But the housing claim is downright spurious. Of the 6000 units promised by porcine Jonathan Bretherton, precisely eight are now being completed in Conningsby Street.

The Herefordshire community is being invited to celebrate the 70thanniversary of VE Day on Friday 8 May.

The chairman of Herefordshire Council is planning to light a beacon in memory of the end of the Second World War at the Shirehall in Hereford at 9.15pm on Friday 8 May.

On VE Day 1945 millions of people across the UK shared an unprecedented moment of relief and euphoria that the war in Europe was finally over. Service men and women were coming home; families no longer needed to live in fear and young evacuees could return from the countryside where they had been sent for their protection.

The Chairman of Herefordshire Council, Lady Darnley, High Sheriff and local Mayors will attend along with WW11 Veterans, members of the Royal British Legion and cadets. The event will consist of speeches, bugle call and culminate with the lighting of the beacon.

The event is open to the public and we welcome you to come along and celebrate the anniversary of this very important day in our history. 

I will be interested to see the outcome of this application...

photo courtesy of the HT

Taken from this article in the HT

THE owner of a sandwich shop in Hereford city centre wants to stay open until 2.30am. Susan Barrow says keeping The Buttery trading until the early hours is the only way to ensure the business will survive.

 

The 54-year-old says she has lost about £700 a week since nearby council offices, including Garrick House, closed.

 

Initially she is asking Herefordshire Council’s Licensing department for permission to open the Maylord Street shop on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights but, if the move proves a hit, she hopes to extend it to late night Sundays and Bank Holidays too.

 

“The reason I have applied is because without it I know I won’t make another winter,” said Mrs Barrow. “I’m finding there is too much food around the town. “Also, when I took over about two years ago, I also had the council offices nearby.

 

“But they have now moved to Plough Lane. “We’ve had a rough time since. I don’t really want to do this but I have no choice.”

 

She says her small team of staff “don’t mind” the proposals, saying they enjoy working at The Buttery, which has been trading for more than 20 years.

 

The shop would sell a similar range of cold food to that on offer in the daytime, including sandwiches and baguettes.

 

The application does not cover hot food which is subject to an early morning curfew in parts of the city centre.

 

Mrs Barrow said licensed door staff will be provided at The Buttery.

 

The evening opening hours, should they be approved, would be from 11.30pm to 2.30am from Thursday to Saturday.