GrowlTiger

When I made a complaint to the Council about an ill thought through road upgrade guess who backed each other up on the openness and transparency of the venture? Yes, this little clique - all of whom were suspended on full pay, all of whom were cleared with “no case to answerâ€, all of whom were in key posts, but were able to be made redundant through an amazingly well timed structural reorganisation and all of whom carried off the pay offs as quoted by Paul Cardin. Deputy CEO Ian Coleman – paid £86,000 Director of Law Bill Norman – paid £146,000 CEO Jim Wilkie - paid £111,054 Director of Technical Services David Green – paid £103,000 Deputy Director of Finance David Taylor Smith – paid £68,000

In the last 5 years on Wirral we have witnessed senior officers mostly in the council, but also in the NHS suspended on full pay for up to a year and then made “redundant†from key posts. They leave with “no case to answer†halos around their heads, a sack full of money and go straight into another senior post elsewhere in the country. It would seem their “career†is not actually about conscientiously doing the job to which they were appointed, but more about plotting lucrative exits. It’s become a sort of Deal or No Deal, but without the blue boxes.

Dippy - How did you mannage to get the web site to accept the word d**k - which was a real name. It kept changing my input. I clearly have a lot of font learning ahead of me. On a positive note, however, I hope we have brought Bobby out of the dark side - what do you think?

I give up - it really is called the Moby Dick

Oh my goodness what a pure web site this is - will I get a warning for using the name of the restaurant in West Kirby – it really is called the Moby Dick. I am not being rude – honestly – that’s what it is called.

Welcome back “our Bobbyâ€. Or, should I use the familiar “our Bobsâ€. Thank goodness we didn’t have to resort to sending in the SAS to find you bundled up in a cellar in Plough Lane. We so love your tapping. Please don’t change. I have by some weird exchange of key tapping become your long lost cousin on the Wirral but did you know that the Moby Dick in West Kirby has become The Hickory Smoke Place? Just awful. But, the marine lake is still a lovely walk to go around and sometimes we have film crews parking in the Morrison’s car park and filming episodes of ‘Olleyoakes or that weird one about dog grooming. We stood for a while and watched – so boring, but the Council loves them there because no-one else will pay the car parking fees! Love you lots Bobby. See you in the Ring O’Bells one day. Love Growl

Help! - dial 999 all those in Hereford. The Council has stolen the real Bobby 47 and replaced him with a town hall apple-polisher!

I should have clarified what I meant by my comment about compensation. Earlier this year it was leaked that someone in Wirral Council received £45,000 compensation from the Council for “hurt feelingsâ€. Our wonderfully open and transparent Council won’t say who it was or why they felt hurt or by whom they were hurt. Residents feel hurt that their taxes are being used in this manner, but we can’t claim compensation for it. All we can do is to keep tapping.

Bobby – when it comes to tapping about certain council officers I don’t think these people are capable of feeling hurt (unless they can claim compensation for it). They deserve to be lampooned as hidden amongst your ranting is truth and they hate truth.

Thanks everyone for your warm welcome. I think what we have in common is 2 awful Councils. Will endeavour to keep up the tapping of the keys in both locations. Interestingly, our Leader of the Council believes he and the newish CEO have turned our rotten borough around and that it is now open and transparent and all the Senior Officers are approachable. Tried with one of the Senior Officers the other day and got the same arrogant and dismissive approach as under the old regime. So no change there!