“Dude, that’s our history you’re airbrushing”
https://twitter.com/Wirral_In_It/status/305453207805652992
The above is a link to a tweet I posted on Twitter tonight. It looks like somebody at Wirral Council may have been carrying out his / her masters orders to comb through the historical ‘record’…. and make a few ‘changes’.
Keen to “get on”, they seem to have happily deleted Councillor Denise Roberts’ original amendment that was put before full council on 2nd November 2009…
….you know the one. The woeful “series of unfortunate events defence” that challenged the PIDA report, aiming to minimise and obfuscate, attaching no fault whatsoever to the Department for Adult Social Services following the “mistakes” and “confusion” that had suddenly flared up like wildfire. This had quickly rampaged through the place; and despite the best efforts of staff, had run out of control, destroying all in its path… er… over a protracted nine year period or possibly longer.
Well, it stuck out like a sore thumb didn’t it? A true hostage to fortune if ever there was one…
Because, look what happened. A couple of years later, along came the Anna Klonowski report, which found the overwhelming majority of the whistleblower’s allegations around abuse were in fact correct. Moreover, Martin Morton became fully vindicated. All those ‘dubious’ claims held fast didn’t they? Each and every one of them. Right down to the last detail…
But fast forward to 2013, and the town hall machinations, never successfully closed down, and still churning away to this day, seem to have come up with an antidote…
The censor’s pen writes…. and having rewritten…. moves on…. to the next piece of inconvenient news that needed to be struck from the record….
…and whoops, here it is…. the Martin Smith Report – you know the one – it looked into bullying, harassment and abuse of power… and found…. er… bullying, harassment and abuse of power. The findings were so serious, it was quickly followed by an apology in person from now departed CEO Jim Wilkie to long term target of corporate bullying, Martin Morton.
UPDATE 7th March 2013
The Martin Smith Report is hidden here, however, somebody has been let loose with a black marker pen. It seems “refreshed and renewed” Wirral still don’t possess the courage or goodwill to remove the redactions that remain peppered throughout the report’s 276 pages. The kind of resolution that was called for by AKA Associates.
These obliterations fulfil their purpose. They serve to protect the identities of Wirral’s proven bullies and power abusers, many of whom remain in post. And if you take a very close read, the anonymous public servant has blacked out words which don’t appear to be identifying names. All rather Kafkaesque, but in 21st Century Wirral……. we now expect this sort of thing.
Yes, it seems Martin Smith’s inconvenient rubber-stamping of the existence of foul, tyrranical behaviour is now extremely difficult to locate, and all that’s openly left on display to the public is Bill Norman’s own rather loose interpretation of it. (Remember him? The once SUSPENDED Director of Law – now ensconced at Herefordshire Council)
So which dark force is behind this new drive to delete, deflect and decontaminate? Can it be a new broom, sweeping clean? *Waves at CEO* Or can it be the work of the ££highly remunerated Local Government Association Improvement Board, sent in to advise the council on where they’ve gone wrong?
Maybe it’s neither; maybe it’s both…. I imagine there are tried and tested, polished and professional ways of presenting your best face – and that should after all be a smooth visage, a calm and untroubled countenance…
But what we have on Wirral is all highly irregular…
Wirral In It Together 