radio silence
noun
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an absence of or abstention from radio transmission.“at midnight, the enemy went on total radio silence”
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a period during which one hears nothing from a normally communicative person or group.
We’re being a little unfair here, and it would be quite wrong of us to accuse The Liverpool Echo, The Wirral Globe, BBC Northwest Tonight, and The BBC News of adopting complete ‘radio silence’.If we check, we can all see that service never actually stopped and is continuing as abnormal, but things aren’t quite what they seem, certain Wirral Council style machinations have crept in, and there is now a very large elephant in the room.On the day that Wirral Leaks scooped the alleged #racism by Elaine Foulkes, former Wirral Mayoral Consort, wife of Councillor Steve Foulkes… who is a…o former Wirral Council Leadero former Mayoro current Executive member of Wirral Councilo board member of Merseytravel – a declaration of total allowances paid to Cllr Foulkes has just been received totalling £43,928.95 – which would be a lot of money for him to lose were Merseytravel to make a value judgment on how their reputation has been impacted, then act on a board member’s alleged failure to prevent alleged #racismo board member of Magenta Homes…whilst they were travelling in a bus and were stood in a hotel lobby on holiday in Sorrento on 7th October…On the same day, the Liverpool Echo gave us:“Scouser makes new fizzy drink range – with some really unusual flavours”And throwing caution to wind, The Wirral Globe, courageously ran with:“Granty’s Top Ten Food Phobias”.
So it was by no means full lockdown. Some members of the population were still witnessing boundaries being broken and the forging of new frontiers, all with the usual flair, from their local, award-winning bringers of quality news.
A contributor named WirralEva on the Wirral Globe site however was given very short shrift when they tried to do their civic duty and alert Peter Grant of “Granty’s Inferno” to the paper’s perceived failure to report the Foulkes’s alleged #racism.This contributor may have thought, “Who better to inform than a proven networker, someone with many local business and showbiz connections going back years?” It was even rumoured that he’d once spoken to Pete Price – although admittedly this may have been in a phone call – to his groundbreaking radio show where members of the public are shouted at, harassed and taken down a peg or two.Maybe Granty would be able to have a word with one of these influential Slebs, i.e. the real movers and shakers, and they could then whisper in somebody’s ear, somebody like Deputy Lieutenant of the Crown, Roger Phillips, influential daytime phone-in host, who could then take the necessary steps, or not….?Here’s the link: https://goo.gl/wiBEp2…and here’s what happened:
Text above: “Thanks for not closing the comments on this article.There is an elephant waiting outside your inferno and the Wirral public are keen for it to be admitted. It’s known as alleged racism and as you know, it occurred a few weeks ago in Sorrento and features Councillor Foulkes and his wife.Why haven’t you or the Wirral Globe covered it yet?As soon as I have finished posting this I will be forced to take a screen shot in the event that a Web editor censors my free speech – which has happened before at the Wirral Globe.What an extremely sad state of affairs to arise in my home town, and all because power is abused, fear takes a grip of journalists, sordid deals are done behind closed doors, or threats are made by those who appear to be above the law.”
So it was a good, informative post by WirralEva, whose frustration came across very well. He or she had probably seen the item on Wirral Leaks on Friday October 20th and come the day of the fearless Granty Inferno, were wondering why Peter Grant had failed to bring the matter up.When were the Globe going to do their jobs, report alleged #racism, bring us the news, and act upon what they’d learned at journalism school?And for anyone who might be thinking, so what, this was in Italy, our police can’t do anything about it…….. think again.If this alleged #racism and Councillor Foulkes’ alleged failure to stop it is true, it’s potentially a criminal act that needs highlighting, reporting on in full detail, and addressing by the relevant authorities.It doesn’t matter where it happened. This guy is a senior figure, and – despite his £expensive, on the record dishonesty during the #Wirralgate investigations – still holds much influence, and should not be able to simply brush it off, walk on by, forget about it and expect it not to appear in the newspapers or be acted upon.In fact, due to seniority in the case of Foulkes, Davies, Davies, Mooney, and all members of the Wirral, hard right ruling Labour Executive, along with their senior unelected directors, the bar on standards of behaviour is raised EVEN HIGHER.Whether it was upon seeing the original scoop on the Wirral Leaks blog, or upon receipt of the comment above, as soon as they realised the seriousness of this i.e. alleged #racism, there were a number of courses of action the Wirral Globe could have taken, as follows:
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- Contact Councillor Foulkes and his wife Elaine to get their version of events
- Contact Wirral Council to check whether they had knowledge of it – one would assume that either SF or EF would have reported it to Wirral Council and the boards of Merseytravel, Magenta Homes and Unilever (Cllr Foulkes employer) immediately upon their return from Italy
- Contact Merseyside Police to check whether anybody had reported the incident, either here or to police in Sorrento?
- Put out a holding statement to their readers to advise that they had knowledge of it, stating whether they would be investigating it and reporting on it
But what did we get? Nothing. In fact the comment was summarily removed less than an hour later, probably by the Web Editor whom we believe is based in Warrington:
The next question we need to ask ourselves is, when did the Wirral Globe take it upon themselves to place an obstacle between the reporting of alleged #racism – a criminal offence – and the opportunity for the relevant authorities to react, step in, investigate, and bring charges if necessary in order to prevent it happening again? When did the Wirral Globe feel they had the authority to simply intervene, press the delete button, and potentially prevent the law from taking its course?
Having checked the IPSO Editors’ Code of Practice on Privacy, they can’t plead, oh, this is their private lives. If this was Corbyn it would be splurged across every damn right wing MSM rag in existence.
If a newspaper censors free speech and stops crimes being reported by removing public messages, and fails to advise the contributing person, ‘yes, we’ve seen and deleted your message but don’t worry, we’ve reported it to the police’, the reason for its very existence is lost. It is actively flying in the face of its own reason for being; the bringing of news to the public. And where will it all end?
You have to wonder just HOW CLOSE to Wirral Council have The Wirral Globe and Liverpool Echo now ventured – and has some sort of sordid deal been done? Are officers and members of the council now in receipt of slanted, favourable reporting? And if so, what are the kickbacks?
Or maybe the personal pecadillos of key people have become known by council top brass, and we will ALL damn well suffer now because they are being brandished privately whilst being used to extract full benefit for the council publicly?
We’ve been suspicious for some time now, ever since the Wirral Globe started behaving like an appreciative puppy dog and since direct links to local rags started appearing inside the council’s official online documents. What the hell is THAT all about? Clearly, it’s time for some searching questions to be asked.
The Wirral News, God rest its soul, adopted what looked like a new version of the Liverpool Pathway in February 2012, when it made a policy decision of not bringing the public any more council scandal.
The year of Our Lord 2012 was one of the WORST years for Wirral Council power abuse and six-figure payoffs, and look what happened to The Wirral News… it went the same way as The News of the World.
DEAD. HUNG BY ITS OWN PETARD. FINITO.
https://twitter.com/Wirral_In_It/status/922783555259977729
Footnote: Here’s what Wirral Council have been doing lately about something less serious than #racism but something that is CERTAINLY closely-related to the foul manner in which Elaine Foulkes allegedly behaved in Sorrento.
It’s called Antisocial Behaviour, the council have it in their sights, and have now called in the services of the local police to get to grips with it. And unlike The Wirral Globe, The Liverpool Echo, and BBC News Northwest, George Davies, Deputy Council Leader (and a close hard right colleague of Councillor Steve Foulkes) is at pains to tell the whole world about it, both online and in their own non-Government approved newspaper, Wirral View.
So there appears to be one law for the wife of a senior councillor, and an entirely different law for what Frank Field MP has termed “toe rags” …
… AND RANK HYPOCRISY IS ALIVE AND WELL.
Return to Bomb Alley 1982 – The Falklands Deception, by Paul Cardin
Wirral In It Together 
They’ll take some young person who’s silly enough to post something offensive on a social media site, trace them, arrest them, prosecute them, convict them and then destroy them by releasing their case to the media and it’s all alright.
But, take some person in a position of authority, someone well connected with friends in influential places and someone who’s not supposed to be subjected to the same rules as the silly young person I’ve described and the outcome is an entirely different scenario.
Instead of getting a visit from the Constable, having your collar felt, being prosecuted and subjected to the deliberations of the Magistrate who might convict you of appalling and overtly racist behaviour and getting the media to report upon your downfall, it doesn’t bloody happen.
Mores the pity I say! How on earth did we arrive at a place where there became this imbalanced treatment between those in power and those without it.
Makes you bloody weep doesn’t it. And they wonder why people take to their keyboards ranting and raving at the injustice of it all.
Mind, that said, I wouldn’t want this bloody woman taking offence from my comments. The last thing I want is her tracing me and tipping up at my front door screaming, ‘open the door fatso. I’m going to beat you senseless’. Course, if she does, and let’s face it it’s possible, even likely, I don’t suppose it’ll make the papers with the headline, ‘ fat old man minding his own business attacked by a Wirral woman armed with a four pound lump hammer causing upsetting injuries’.
Mark my words, if this woman does go on a killing spree the Wirral Globe will regret their failure to act and I’ll be the first in the queue demanding financial compensation for the dreadful debilitating injuries that I personally sustained at my front door step after being beaten senseless with her four pound lump hammer.
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As I predicted! She’s been round! Bloody knew it! I was laid in bed in a high state of arousal whilst nibbling on a custard slice when all of a sudden I smelt smoke and the pungent aromas of burning wood. Straight away I thought, ‘the bloody Klan are back again’.
I popped me pants on, got out of bed, pulled the newspaper off the bloody Windows because we’ve never generated enough disposable income to purchase bloody curtains, to see three burning crucifix’s and two figures adorned in cassocks and hoods that are normally worn by the bloody Klan whenever they’ve popped round here before lynching those of us who ain’t pure white Arian British citizens.
I opened the window and howled,’ who comes burning crucifix’s at three bloody thirty in the morning. This is a good neighbourhood populated by good decent God fearing folk who diligently recycle their rubbish. Clear off we’re trying to get some bloody sleep here’.
Anyway, the smaller of the two, possibly female, who’s hood and robes looked like they were the garments of the bloody Grandmaster of the Klan howled, ‘we are the W.W.L.M( Wirral White Lives Matter) and we want to satisfy ourselves that you are white and you’ve got documentation that proves your genealogical lineage is of pure undiluted whiteness.’ And then, waving a rope, with menacing intent said, ‘if you ain’t like us we’re going to string you up and stretch your neck’.
Course, not wanting to take any chances and erring on the side of caution, not wanting to be horse whipped in me street, having me belongings confiscated, getting transported and even hung up from the boughs of me own bloody Elm tree I quickly threw me box of identification documents through the window proving to them the Klan that I was pure white British.
Who were they? I’ve no idea but the taller of the two was wearing tangerine shorts that I’d previously noticed on an earlier blog that concerned a lads holiday in the Algarve.
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Reblogged this on Wirral In It Together and commented:
Just over three years ago. A reminder of how sick Wirral Council really is.
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