THE BRISTOLIAN: Smiter of the High & Mighty - back on the streets for March 2013

[DaveCinzano]

Third issue is out now - some heavy duty stories in there, including:

SELF-POLICING ACADEMY IN RACISM ROW
Some shenanigans at a local academy school, though exactly what 'institutional racism' is alleged is never spelt out - I suspect this one might not go away

'THREATS' OVER DOCKS DEATH
Council workers warned not to whistleblow on failure to put up safety railings (Mayor George Ferguson was one of those against improved safety)

 

[big eejit]

One for The Bristolian.

Gorgeous George tells pro democracy / anti RPZ inquisitor to "fuck off" (1:55) at the unveiling of Ursa the bear in the Bearpit yesterday (10.5).



Inquisitor is then restrained by Chris "Mr Stokes Croft" Chalkley while mayor legs it.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Gorgeous George...Chris "Mr Stokes Croft" Chalkley...

Clifton's very own dream team!

 

[JTG]

Interesting (to me) that having put in loads of the back breaking work of digging/planting etc round the Bearpit the last couple of weeks that a) none of the Ashley candidates showed any interest in what we were doing when they were all having a hustings while we were there and b) the SC arty set only seem to have been interested in their own sculptures etc and not the gardening. Obviously the bear and whatnot get the fanfare...

 

[DaveCinzano]

One for The Bristolian.

Gorgeous George tells pro democracy / anti RPZ inquisitor to "fuck off" (1:55) at the unveiling of Ursa the bear in the Bearpit yesterday (10.5).

Now a t-shirt!

http://www.redbubble.com/people/bristolrebel/works/10331438-ive-listened

 

[DaveCinzano]

...And now a mashup tune:

 

[DaveCinzano]

It's shooting fish in a barrel at the moment, in terms of coverage of the council's Senior Leadership Team and the Mayor's office.

Near enough a dozen of them caught conspiring to support the election efforts of the Tories at the next general election with some kind of 'Plan Boris' - presumably because they think by doffing their cap to Eric Pickles they might get a few more crumbs.

http://thebristolian.net/2013/10/04/revealed-council-bosses-in-secret-election-plan-to-back-tories/

Also, yet more George Ferguson 'confusion'/lies (delete as applicable) - this time on 'zero hours contracts':

http://thebristolian.net/2013/10/07/georges-rubbish-jobs-citizen-zero-has-zero-clue-on-zero-hours/

And obviously the Cathedral Primary 'free school' project (which aims to takeover much-needed space from the Central Library) and the Castle Park/St Mary-le-Port plans (handing over green space to developers) - both of which see Ferguson backtracking, obfuscating and misrepresenting - are likely to throw up plenty more juice in coming weeks.

 

[DaveCinzano]

A clutch of stories on the website seem to have stalled attempts by a mismanaged charity - where bosses get tasty perks and above-inflation salary increases whilst ordinary workers barely get minimum wage - to flog off a load of greenbelt land for ‘development’ (AKA more than a hundred overpriced houses for the open market, with a sop of no more than a dozen ‘affordable’ homes):

http://thebristolian.net/2013/10/23/horseworld-planning-apps-withdrawn-at-11th-hour/
http://thebristolian.net/2013/10/23/horseworlds-secret-supporters-who-just-happen-to-work-there/
http://thebristolian.net/2013/10/22...plication-a-quick-canter-through-the-numbers/
http://thebristolian.net/2013/10/21/horseworld-revisited-m-d-mark-owen-his-magic-staff-write-athon/

So the Smiter's reach now extends into Bath & NE Somerset!

 

[DaveCinzano]

Meanwhile...

Today a special art competition was opened - with a £5 bag of meat up for grabs for whoever creates the best portrait of local councillor Gary Hopkins!

http://thebristolian.net/2013/10/25...kins-portrait-meat-raffle-competition-now-on/

Submissions are open all week, with public voting taking place next week.

 

[TopCat]

I love the prize of a bag of meat.

 

[DrRingDing]

...And now a mashup tune:

Excellent

 

[DaveCinzano]

I love the prize of a bag of meat.

When you see a photograph of the councillor in question, it makes even more sense.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Meanwhile...

Today a special art competition was opened - with a £5 bag of meat up for grabs for whoever creates the best portrait of local councillor Gary Hopkins!

http://thebristolian.net/2013/10/25...kins-portrait-meat-raffle-competition-now-on/

Submissions are open all week, with public voting taking place next week.

And the winner is...

‘MEAT ZEPPELIN’ by Guriben.

 

[Gerry1time]

I can never look at Gary Hopkins without thinking of these.

 

[BlackArab]

Whenever I see a picture of him the song 'I Am The Walrus' goes through my head.

 

[DaveCinzano]

On a less humorous note, there's a scandal brewing over the failure to rehouse those at immediate threat of domestic violence:

http://thebristolian.net/2013/11/08...y-council-abandons-vulnerable-battered-woman/

http://thebristolian.net/2013/11/10...-find-safe-home-for-victim-of-sadistic-abuse/

One of those cases of WHO KNEW WHAT, AND WHEN?

So far implicated in the case of ‘Ms X’ are Mayor George Ferguson, Labour leader Helen Holland, Strategic Housing Director Nick Hooper, and Rehousing Manager Paul Sylvester.

‘Ms X’ is unlikely to be the only domestic violence survivor in Bristol at serious risk of harm thanks to the council's lamentable inability to meet its requirements under the law.

 

[DaveCinzano]

The case of domestic abuse survivor Ms X is ongoing - more news is promised soon.

But another big exclusive has just been broken by The BRISTOLIAN: shady goings on at a private care home into which Bristol City Council dumps old people. There have been deaths in...troubling circumstances. Staff include a nurse who has be on trial for assaults, and a struck-off nurse acting as a ‘consultant’. Vital documents were ‘lost’ (“burned by the gardener”!!!) before a coroner's inquest - only to be mysteriously found afterwards!

Despite multiple inspections by the CQC, the home has not improved. Despite warnings to the council from family members, BCC continues to send vulnerable older people to live there.

• THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOLMWOOD: BRISTOL’S NEW HOUSE OF HORRORS
• HOLMWOOD HOUSE ‘CARE’ SCANDAL: CENSORSHIP AND COVER-UP IN BRISTOL?
• THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOLMWOOD: WHY THE BRISTOLIAN HAD TO ACT

 

[DaveCinzano]

The BRISTOLIAN has now confirmed that its campaign has helped secure ‘Ms X’ suitable and safe new home - but at the same time reveals that domestic abuse victims applying to Bristol City Council for rehousing face an average wait of SIX MONTHS.

That's at the same time as DV rehousing applications have doubled in just five years, with reduced budgets paring down the available resources even further and more to come, thanks to Mayor Ferguson's £90 million cuts package.

A big and serious local story.

http://thebristolian.net/2013/12/11...ncil-fails-to-rehouse-domestic-abuse-victims/

 

[el-ahrairah]

When you see a photograph of the councillor in question, it makes even more sense.

 

[DaveCinzano]

The BRISTOLIAN is coming up to its first anniversary in the current incarnation.

In one year has...

• Pressured the council into meeting its legal obligations by rehousing a vulnerable domestic violence survivor
• Exposed a dangerously-run for-profit private ‘care’ home where RESIDENTS HAVE NEEDLESSLY DIED
  
• Uncovered (well before anyone else) institutional racism at a key academy in the city (vindicated in a tribunal finding in December, made public in January, causing school principal to lose her place on the governing trust)
• Detailed endemic financial mismanagement throughout the council Markets Service - see next issue for SHOCKING TURN OF EVENTS...
  
• Revealed a corrupt tendering regime in the Parks department that permitted a bent manager to be flown to Italy to see relatives, buy some expensive kiosks off them with our money, then set up his own franchise business selling them to other local authorities using Bristol as a case study(!)
• Stood up for overworked and underpaid staff at equine charity HorseWorld, where an incompetent senior management team has run the organisation into the ground and risked huge job losses and service cuts
• Prevented public green spaces from being flogged off to profiteering developers
• Won back wrongfully withheld money for readers
• Publicised ridiculous salary levels, undermined gag orders and embarrassed incompetent bosses, in public sector and private...

...Amongst other things.

With a zero budget, it has published nearly 250 stories - and every one has been, in essence, true and accurate. No lawsuits, no shutdowns, no arrests. Lots of noses out of joint. Many stories shamelessly picked up (unattributed) by the Post, the Beeb or ITV. And everything unashamedly pro-working class.

 

[DaveCinzano]

New issue out this Thursday BTW.

 

[DaveCinzano]

I love the prize of a bag of meat.

There was an official prize-giving ceremony and everything:

(The prize was two tubes of species non-specific sausage meat, bought for £4.99 from a Bedminster butcher's, and presented to the winner at the historic Llandoger Trow pub, where pirates used to congregate, and where the story of Treasure Island was conceived. Hence the editorial intern's garb.)

 

[DaveCinzano]

Issue #4.10 now out and being distributed across town.

It's a bumper six-pager, including a special supplement investigating MAJOR FINANCIAL IRREGULARITIES in the Council's Markets Service - plus the VICTIMISATION of WHISTLEBLOWERS; the MAYOR and a key CABINET COLLEAGUE apparently LYING about an internal report they claimed gave a clean bill of health; a TOOTHLESS ‘FRAUDBUSTER’ UNIT; and much more besides.

In a shocking turn of events, the manager at the centre of the Markets money mismanagement storm - who was finally about to face a full investigation over £165,000 - killed himself in January. No other media in Bristol have reported on this.

Other stories in the paper include the CATHEDRAL PRIMARY SCHOOL LIBRARY LAND-GRAB SCANDAL; yet more HORSEWORLD SHENANIGANS; and CITY ACADEMY'S INSTITUTIONALLY RACIST LEADERSHIP.

• The BRISTOLIAN #4.10 – February 2014 (PDF)
• The BRISTOLIAN #4.10 (Extra: The Market Files) – February 2014 (PDF)

 

[Libertad]

Cheers Dave.

 

[William of Walworth]

At least one non Bristol resident (ie me) is now keeping an eye out for new issues

Loving it, carry on with those cheeky exposes!

 

[DaveCinzano]

A busy weekend at The BRISTOLIAN - mismanaged charity's crap boss appears to have (belatedly) taken a dislike to the paper, after a mere ten months of detailed coverage, furnished by unerringly accurate insider accounts.

So he's contracted a bunch of muppet lawyers to try and silence ‘The Smiter’!

This might not end well...For the £80kpa + £28k Audi incompetent MD.

http://thebristolian.net/2014/02/17...e-horseworld-bosss-attempt-to-censor-critics/
http://thebristolian.net/2014/02/17...yers-attempt-at-a-threatening-letter-in-full/

 

[DaveCinzano]

The not-very-accurate lawyer's letter in full:

 

[DaveCinzano]

So it's very important no one calls Mark Owen an “incompetent twat”, a “crap boss”, a “dunderhead” or bestowed with the management skills of “the back end of a panto horse”.

Apparently in between deciding which 24 of his 56 minimum wage and near-minimum wage staff to make redundant, driving his £28,000 company Audi and playing in his dadrock covers band, he's something of a sensitive soul!

 

[DaveCinzano]

Suspect he may have a tougher time trying to threaten The BRISTOLIAN into silence than he did with student newspaper Epigram...

 

[DaveCinzano]

Another issue, another direct hit... Green councillor and Assistant Mayor Gus Hoyt has responsibility for council housing, who has recently been lecturing people about the need to keep public housing stock out of the private sector - pretty reasonable, really.

Except, in 2012 he bought a family-sized flat - cash deal, no mortgage - off the council for £186,500. And tried to keep quiet about it!

Ooooops...

http://thebristolian.net/2014/05/19/hoyt-in-housing-hypocrisy/

Which led to:

http://www.bristol247.com/2014/05/1...te-bristolians-housing-hypocrite-story-43084/

Which in turn led to:

http://thebristolian.net/2014/05/19/hoyts-housing-hypocrisy-update/

And then this:

http://www.bristolgreenparty.org.uk/blog/statement-by-gus-hoyt-my-home

Exactly how either baldly stating that a councillor bought his flat off the council, or accusing him of being a hypocrite in a 72pt front page headline, is ‘innuendo’ is not something Hoyt has managed to explain thus far.

For that matter, in what way admitting that he bought a flat off the council (a fact, after all) is ‘refuting’ it is also something of a puzzler...