Here’s the piece I’ve written for the Independent today. I promise I will write more over the weekend!
In many ways I owe Lutfur Rahman a great deal of thanks. After his first election victory in 2010 I blogged he would, over the coming years, create the Nirvana sought by all reporters: Storyville.
He didn’t let us down. Within days of his election a fed up official at Tower Hamlets town hall leaked that one of Lutfur’s first requests as Britain’s first directly elected Asian mayor was to require a staff member to traipse across London to Covent Garden to buy him the new iPhone4. In fact, the staff member had to buy two because Lutfur’s new deputy, Ohid Ahmed, also wanted one.
Not long afterwards, he exercised his next executive order: a rather nice executive Mercedes car. With a chauffeur to boot.
He went on to make another extraordinary and significant decision early on in his mayoralty. Very quietly and without any genuine debate or consultation, he wrested control of the council’s grants system. I warned about it at the time.
Grants had previously been awarded to community groups via an open committee of councillors. That committee had for years published details of each decision, including the advice and assessment of council officers. That no one apart from anoraks like me read them was beside the point.
Lutfur sucked the scrutiny and transparency from the process and gave himself ultimate sole discretion on who got what. He then created a brand new grants stream: millions of pounds to “refurbish” faith buildings in the borough.
Now why would he want to do all that, we asked. As a result of yesterday’s judgement, we can now safely say the answer: as a targeted bribe for bloc votes.
Even some in his own team thought his actions on grants unwise. But Lutfur doesn’t like to be questioned. In fact, he declined to answer any questions put to him at council meetings, or at sessions of the crucial Scrutiny committee. During last year’s mayoral elections he even refused to attend a single hustings.
Why? Because he was concentrating almost entirely on the Bengali and Somali community for votes. That had been his re-election strategy from day one, all the while espousing a One Tower Hamlets theme…and labelling critics who dared challenge this ‘racist’ or ‘Islamophobic’. Irony is not one of his strong points.
I must say, he personally never branded me that and, to his credit, when his supporters did, or when they verbally attacked my British Bangladeshi wife, he called them out.
In many ways, he was a victim of a toxic brand of politics that has festered in Tower Hamlets for decades. Many believe he learnt his tricks from Labour, his former party. Local Labour leaders also recognised this and they’ve been trying to clean themselves up.
There will always be rogue politicians who somehow make it to senior office. Invariably they will be found out. But for me there are two more far-reaching issues from yesterday’s judgment. Lutfur was found guilty of undue spiritual influence, a centuries old law rooted in pre-Home Rule Ireland. Some wanted it removed from the state book. Judge Mawrey advised it shouldn’t be. In fact, he suggested it be updated for a modern age when simple adherence to Islam by millions of voters can be exploited.
And lastly…I started my spare time blog in 2010 when I realised my former paper, the East London Advertiser, was no longer able or willing to keep an eye on the detail of the council administration. I kept plugging away where it should have been. For that, I received numerous legal threats from the town hall. None succeeded. But the retreat of so many local papers across the UK is deeply worrying. How many other Lutfur Rahmans are there out there?
Trial by Jeory 
It was suggested to me today that Alibor Choudhury was influencing Mr Rahman. Any comments?
Doesn’t really matter one way or the other – both have been banned from office.
If the ex-Mayor were to say “he made me do it” then what’s he admitting is a lack of any intelligence or competence to be an elected Mayor.
He can’t have it both ways
There is nothing in the Law of England stating that any council official, except the 151 Officer, or councillor or mayor has to posses:-
1. a modicum of intelligence
2. rudimentary competence
3. moral scruples
4. English literacy
5. basic numeracy
6. a minute bit of honesty
No wonder England is so backward and often an embarrassment to citizens of other European countries. How much longer must the long-suffering public tolerate all this crap ?
Seems national political leaders and their parties slagging-off their opponents is much more important than introducing proper fit-for-purpose election and council laws.
Someone should report Isabella’s conduct, about the claimed Human Rights abuse, to the SRA.
Curious Cat.
Rahman has never been very clever. I think that many people have suspected that he is simply the most publicly-acceptable one of a group of unpleasant characters and was in position to do the bidding of the others.
Of course, the election court has removed Rahman from power but not destroyed the group behind him. The concern is that they will find another acceptable puppet and put them in post.
Tim.
As I have pointed out before Tim there is a block of votes out there outside of the conventional party structures. It could be already coalescing around another candidate and campaign.
There are many people lacking basic skills who have done very well in life. Not everyone lacking morals or scruples turns into a a greedy, corrupt, dishonest. deceitful. lying fraudster like Rahman. He has no-one to blame but himself.
Lutfur Rahman the ‘Muslim Mayor’ and Conclusions http://thoughtsbyehtasham.blogspot.com/2015/04/disclaimer-i-writethis-blog-in-personal.html
A long article by Gilligan in The Telegraph this morning where the conduct of the police is now coming under scrutiny, and about time. When the CPS originally charged the editor of London Bangla over the smearing of Helal Abbas Uddin many thought that the process of getting rid of Rahman had started. They then dropped the whole thing and it was left to Uddin himself to bring a private prosecution as the election petitioners did.
The CPS, Hogan Howe and the Chief Super of Limehouse Streeter have some explaining to do.
Don’t hold your breath whilst waiting for their explanation.
One topic that hasn’t had much airing is those councillors whose elections were exposed as fraudulent but not being mentioned on the petition could not be removed.
Will any of them stand down?
Does any of them have a shred of decency?
Does any of them have a shred of decency?
Ha! Thanks – that has really cheered up my Friday afternoon!
A shred of decency amongst THF councillors? That’s a fine joke!
“How many other Lutfur Rahmans are there out there?”
As has been stated by Mayrey, and suspected by many millions of others, we are in a situation in the UK where to criticise a muslim is to open yourself to allegations of racism and islamophobia. This is not a desirable situation.
This culture has led to a number of the high-profile news stories of late concerning muslims and those from an islamic culture. Rotherham/Rochdale/Oxford grooming gangs are a good example, and the Tower Hamlets debacle is another. However the far-too-ready playing of the race and islamophobic cards are not the only explanation; they may have allowed the problem to fester, but the root of the problem has to lie elsewhere.
While we are not promoting integration into the host culture, behaviours from ‘home cultures’ will persist. Bangladeshis are very poorly integrated in TH, and continue to live in their enclaves, surrounded only by people from ‘back home’, speaking their ‘mother tongue’ and behaving in all respects as if they were still in bangladesh. Corruption and election fraud are very common in bangladesh, so is it any great surprise that it rears it’s ugly head in TH? Not to anyone who is not blinkered by threats of racism, no.
So, to answer the question of how many other Lutfur Rahmans are there out there, you need to ask how many such politicians are representing local groups who are poorly integrated into their wider community and who come from cultures where such behaviour is rife.
People will, of course, cry ‘racism’ at this post. Let them, and let them be damned both by their own words and by history.
Oli.
Tim, the days when vermin on the left like John Rees, Galloway, Livingstone and Dave Hill could scream racist and Islamophobe are over, dead and gone. It has taken a long time and a lot of sacrifices particularly by brave people like former council leader Helal Abbas Uddin but we can now call a spade a spade.
Read the five hundred or so comments on the cringeworthy article by Hill on The Guardian’s web site and they are overwhelmingly hostile. The Guardian, that standard bearer of political correctness, is now totally out of tune with its own readers and the country in general.
This event will be as important as the collapse of the Livingstone Empire after the corruption and anti white racism of Lee Jasper was exposed by Andre Gilligan and the abolition of the Commission for Racial Equality a thinly disguised fraud that demonised white people and invented racism to make money.
Mr. Pee Wee has just sent this email out to all rotten borough staff: –
I understand that you have already received a message from Stephen Halsey detailing the result of the Electoral Petition Hearing.
Following the verdict, I have assumed the Executive role within the council, until a Mayoral Election is held.
Whilst this is a difficult time, our first priority must be to serve the people of Tower Hamlets and I look forward to working with you all to do so.
I would like to thank the senior management team for their support and all staff for your ongoing hard work and dedication to our residents.
Deputy Mayor Oliur Rahman
No apology to residents again then from the unelected Deputy Mayor, corruptly elected Councillor. Fortunately he won’t be in office long.
Yes – but, other than that, he’s striking the right tone.
Personally I think the Labour Group could challenge his right to assume the Executive position as:
1) his election has been described as a corrupt i.e. he has no mandate to even be a councillor
2) Mayoral Elections do not provide for collegiate type arrangements as per the old arrangements. You elect the man not the party
3) in any case, there is no recognisable party which passes the requirements for some sort of collegiate arrangements to prevail.
I’d like to know on what precise legal basis he has assumed this position and on what legal basis the Head of Paid Service has allowed him to do so.
I think if Labour took legal advice (outside the Council) and then called an Extraordinary Council I think we might find a different state of affairs in pretty short order.
For what it’s worth my preferred solution right now would be for one of the External Commissioners to be appointed “in loco parentis” as it were by Pickles and then that would allow time for the politicians to get on with fighting a Mayoral Election in two months time
I don’t suppose any of them are prepared for this!
I also suspect that none of them would object to this arrangement if it were only to last for a few weeks until the election.
That’s because it’s a party neutral solution for a set of circumstances where one now has to assume the last election did not happen.
(The latter being another reason why I think Cllr Oli Rahman has no right to assume that he can assume the role of Acting Mayor. If the Election did not happen and if the Mayor is now the ex-Mayor, logic dictates that Cllr Oli Rahman is now the ex-Deputy Mayor.)
Thank you for your work Ted. Our residents have much to be grateful to you for. Some day they may even realise it….
Well Done Ted and Also thanks to John Ware who first brought this to light via Panaroma
As one said above that they will bring another puppet to their service; As some of us gather a certain Imam Ajmol Masroor’ name is floating second to Abjol Miah to put their name forward for the Mayoral re-election. Certain cortet beleive either one of them can unite the Lutfur moderates and the IFE
On the other hand Oliur Rahman and Ohid Ahmed would not want to settle it quite
Intersting times part 2
I am sure we will hear more from you Ted; keep up the good work
John Ware was very late on the scene. My understanding is that he only used what many who had gone before him had already uncovered. Maybe he started by reading this blog?
It was first brought to light by Andrew Gilligan in a Dispatches programme. The Panorama programme was a pale shadow of that. Gilligan won a Press Association award for it.
Agreed – no dispute about Andrew Gilligan’s role – I’m just rather surprised that John Ware is getting as much credit as he is without any mention of Ted – particularly given Ted’s mention in the Judgement.
Murziline Parchment is in the town hall today, presumably typing out her cv….
Be careful – they will be trying to find out who you are… And take you down.
Some of your commentators ask could there be another Rahman in the wings (Tim, Dave Roberts). This misses the point of the perfect storm in LBTH – including weak(rogue?) senior officers, seemingly compliant police, and with the exception of Peter Golds, no opposition. Abolition of standards Board, and sleeping auditors.
Until we have the Enquiry into “how did this hsppen” residents of tower hamlets and elsewhere are not safe from such corruption.
Look at yesterday’s statement from Halsey – says it all.
Retrospective soul-searching will be unproductive.
The public need a Legal Right to challenge councillors and mayors and top council officials about their official decisions.
The stupid out-of-date election law need replacing with a new law that puts no time limit of challenging the legality of an election and, if a scrutinising High Court judge agrees, public funding for that challenge in the form of legal aid.
“How it happened” time wasting enquiries, often very expensive, will never solve the problem. A replacement law will.
Copious waffle is never a satisfactory substitute for sensible action.
CC.
Duncan Penny’s bill is said to be at least 600k or maybe even 800k
Rahman was ordered to pay 250k costs yesterday
Plus the Petitioners barristers cost which will be at least 300k
If Rahman does not cough up the cash he has two properties on his register of interests: –
30 Deal Street E1
3 Grace Street E3
He is also believed to have an interest in a property in Dubai (another scandal there)
The petitioners may have to issue a charge on either or both of these in the borough to force a sale to get their cash.
Andy Erlam was asked what the costs of the Petitioners were in a television interview yesterday – outside the Royal Courts – and he said about £1 million,
So the ex-Mayor has to pay:
1) The Petitioners Costs of c. £1 million (the £250,000 he has to pay into court is just a deposit – a down payment
2) His own Barrister – as you indicate maybe £600-800k
Let’s add it up and round it down and that comes to £1.5 million he owes the legal teams. He’s just very lucky there are no punitive damages.
Personally I regard it as some retribution for the fact that the ex-Mayor’s first actions when he came into office were to order a new iPhone and arrange for his car to be a Mercedes.
I shall regard him as the lowest of the low if he goes cap in hand to his community for contributions. They’ve not broken any laws so I really don’t see see why they should have to pay a single penny for his wrongdoing – especially as he has assets he can dispose of to raise the cash.
He’s played a high stakes game and lost the case and lost face as well.
He should take it on the chin and pay up!
He has nothing to bribe ‘his community’ with now. If they did give him anything they’d be handing him back money he gave them that he stole from residents.
Election Date Announced:
The elections for a Mayor of Tower Hamlets and a Councillor for Stepney Green ward will take place on Thursday, June 11, 2015.
See:
http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/council_and_democracy/elections__voting/election_2015/mayoral_and_stepney_green.aspx
Some of those who contribute here may be interested to know that we have serious problems in Waltham Forest, too, not so much about elections and fraud, more about the mis-spending of public money etc.
Ive started a blog to record the scandals and it is here:
http://www.walthamforestmatters.org.uk
Trial by Jeory was and is my inspiration, so I will always be grateful to Ted for demonstrating so clearly and eloquently what can be done, and how important it is to do it.
The Wharf has a neat summary of the story so far http://www.wharf.co.uk/news/16-things-learnt-sensational-rahman-9108368
It had to happen….
See:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/24/party-corrupt-former-tower-hamlets-mayor-rally-lutfur-rahman-electoral-fraud-london
Interesting comments from the Somali gentleman.
However, there were some dissenting voices outside the mosque. Ahmed Ismail, from the local Somali community, said they had little influence over local affairs and welcomed the mayor’s removal.
“He is bloody corrupt, so yes, I am very pleased,” said the 35-year-old. “It is always people from the Bangladeshi community running things round here. We don’t get a look in.”
Ismail said he hoped the verdict signalled a fresh start. “We
are extremely pleased the corruption has been highlighted and I just hope he does not leave his cronies behind.”
Ted, could you go through the points raised in Jen Izaaksons article/petition? I think it’s going to spread like wildfire, unfortunately.
For a good idea of how the loony left view the whole thing and how they lie to themselves http://www.towerhamletsontrial.wordpress.com It’s unbelievable.
More dim-witted nonsense. They even claim Richard Mawrey is not a real Judge! If they don’t like proper justice and democracy no-one will mind if they leave the Borough.
What is the purpose of this petition? Does it matter that Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck support it?
The only way the Electoral Court judgement can be overturned is by a Judicial Review in the High Court.
And by the Court of Appeal – and that did happen in a Mawrey case.
CC.
The petition matters little. One of the 5 Councillors in the Birmingham case was successful on appeal. Not the same as trying to reverse the entire judgement as the lying crook Rahman wants.
=> Jay Kay
Yes indeed.
Actually two appeals were successful in the Birmingham matter.
One was a legal technicality where, in my opinion, a guilty man extricated himself:
Zulfiqar Khan cleared by Divisional Court : [2005] EWHC 2365
(Admin)
And the other was a case of mistaken identity assisted by unimpressive police.
Muhammed Afzal cleared by Appeal Court : [2005] EWCA Civ 647
CC.
Arise Sir Ted Jeory of Tower Hamlets, for services to local journalism and democracy.
Talk of a rally by Lutfur supporters next Thursday and EDL day after general elections.
Ted, can you say if the Mayoral Advisors are out along with political advisors, IFE Shazid Miah and Ken’s pet Murziline Parchment are out?
The cheek of Ken to say Judge Mawrey is an unelected bueaucrat when more than half of Lutfur’s office is with his own Murziline as Head of the Office the highest paid of them. Our money should no longer pay for these fools and to secure their next jobs!
The point about personal political appointments in the USA is that when the Political Head’s appointment is terminated then all the “adviser” appointee appointments are also automatically terminated since their existence relies on the person who appointed them. There’s never any question of the appointments outlasting the political appointment.
Of course it would depend on Tower Hamlets Human Relations Managers having understood this when contracts were drawn up.
Otherwise the Council’s HR Managers will have to go through the normal process of stipulating there being no rationale for the continued existence of the posts and the need to make the posts redundant and then examine the scope for the possible assimilation of the post holders into the corporate body. I should think the latter would depend on whether the posts had been subject to external advertisement and competitive appointment of the best person on merit – and hence whether there was any reason to think that there could be scope for assimilation.
There again those processes could provide rich pickings for those wanting to unpick exactly how money has been spent in inappropriate ways by the ex-Mayor.
Sounds to me like an FOI asking for a total figure of the sum expended on Advisers including expenses might get things going.
So that’s the Mayoral Advisors but many of Lutfur’s chosen appointments are under the guise of non-political Council contracts. His supporters, his cronies! No doubt they are trying to hide in his office now.
They are being paid from our tax money, even though Lutfur is out. Some exposure needs to happen here. Murziline Parchment and Shazid Miah and others should not get good jobs in other Council offices or outside the Council on the back of cronyism and taxpayer money!
Livingstone is shameless so nothing can be believed that he says. His corruption was exposed in the Martin Bright programme some years ago.
Guardian commentary on Richard Mawrey – and his findings in Election Courts elsewhere in the country where has has also had findings of wholesale fraud in areas where kinship networks are strong.
http://www.theguardian.com/law/2015/apr/24/judge-disqualified-tower-hamlets-mayor-reform-election-law-richard-mawrey-electoral-fraud
Interestingly this is a piece in the Dhaka Tribune (a Bangladesh newspaper based in Dhaka)
http://www.dhakatribune.com/crime/2015/apr/23/tower-hamlets-mayor-lutfur-found-guilty-fraud
The headline was rewritten after an earlier version headlined “Bangladesh-born east London mayor kicked out of office” had drawn this comment. Note the final sentence.
Disowned by his country of birth!
I think that commenters plea to the Dhaka Tribune reflects insularity/ nationalist pride more than an interest in the politics of London – an even more interesting piece in that paper is this story about a Dhaka mayoral candidate (election on Tuesday) being barred from a mosque allegedly for violating an electoral code saying down with that sort of thing… http://www.dhakatribune.com/politics/2015/apr/25/tabith-barred-entering-mosque
No doubt this was mainly because he was an opposition candidate rather than the PM’s favoured one – who did something similar this week – but its interesting the code exists at all. (even though both the leading Bangladeshi parties do not let their habitual proclaimations of secularism stop them from cosying up to tiny Islamist parties/ social movements when it suits them)
http://www.dhakatribune.com/politics/2015/apr/24/greet-and-treat-annisul-camp-seeks-ulema-campaign-help-during-jummah
Interesting exchange going on between Ted and Rania Khan on Twitter
Difficult to reproduce (ie best looked at on Twitter) but in order it seems to go like this – Ted is retweeting Rania’s comments and adding his own response but it reads more easily here as Rania first then Ted then Rania then Ted
Interesting that Rania Khan should choose the word ‘fight’ in her tweets considering she posted a pic on a social network site of a hand danger with the comment ‘I knw its not lady like, but i luv my weapons.’
Maybe Ranks and her ilk could reach into their deep tax paid coffers and refund the expenses/charges of the ex-Mayor to the Election Court?
East End Life’s page on the council website reports notice of election for Mayor and Cllr for Stepney but fails to make any mention of why there are these vacancies
http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/news/council_news.aspx
Time to use their “Setting the record straight” link?
http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/news__events/media_centre/setting_the_record_straight.aspx
Let’s start calling the number on Monday morning to complain. The next issue should carry a full account of what happened. The one good thing is that none of these hacks will ever get real journalism jobs.
From the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
“
In spite of our best efforts, media reports are not always completely accurate. People have a right to reliable information, just as we have a duty to provide it. That is why we introduced this section to the website.
The information we provide is subject to a Code of Conduct under the Local Government Act 2000. This means we are bound by the highest standards of propriety and accuracy in providing information.
”
Kelly Powell
Head of Media
Tel: 020 7364 4390
FOI
1. Please reveal the Code of Conduct pursuant to the LGA 2000 that specifically mentions Tower Hamlets press office adhering to the highest standards of propriety and accuracy in providing information.
2. Why did this Code of Conduct not operated properly when Mr Rahman was mayor as can be seen in numerous attempts by council officials to manipulate the media ?
3. Does this anonymous “Code of Conduct” also apply to Freedom of Information requests ?
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/lbth_press_office_code_of_conduc/
Well done Ted. Your tenacity to document this corrupt regime since 2010 is admirable. Plaudits to other journalists and activists who have taken their lead from you.
Constitutionally I question why THF think they have the right to assume the position of “acting” Mayor. The office is vacant awaiting f the rerun of the election.
Also, the Cabinet is now invalid and all allowances should have ceased on 23rd April 2015.
As ycmiu said the Commissioners should take control until the election is rerun.
What is the position re Shaheed Ali given he was named in the judgement? Will the Police be revisiting the double registration and voting allegation? Should he stand down?
I am astonished at the ignorance of Ken and THF supporters about the law of this land. Maybe some PPE and civics lessons before any of these people dare go stand for public office.
Good luck to Tower Hamlets in the rerun. I hope we elect a Mayor for ALL communities.
The corruptly elected Shahed Ali has taken to Facebook to say ‘FACT: He [Judge Marey] has got it wrong before which surely questions his ability to judge correctly?’
The rather juvenile use of the word ‘fact’ in capital letters before his opinion obviously means Shahed knows better than a Judge of nearly 50 years legal experience. NOT!
Jay Kay,
Judges, including Election Commissioners, are not infallible. Getting it right or wrong is not dependent on the length of one’s judicial office tenure or of one’s membership of the Bar.
What is a FACT and beyond dispute is Richard Mawrey has a “strong dislike” and contempt for vote rigging in all its forms. Mawrey also has substantial experience of dealing with many permutations of voting corruption.
By the way, what did Mawrey allegedly get “wrong” according to Shahed Ali – surely not the FACT that hanky-panky has been going-on for far too long in LBTH ?
Curious Cat
No-one is infallible but Shahed is not the one to decide although he may have an opinion that it just so happens in this case that the Judge is wrong.
Everybody should have a a “strong dislike” and contempt for vote rigging in all its forms, not just Judge Mawrey. Sadly, this is something Shahed fails to grasp.
“Mr Choudhury was a very unsatisfactory witness. He was arrogant, indeed cocky, and did not hesitate to tell bare-faced lies in the smug assurance that the mere lawyers listening to him would not have the wit to see through them. He also came over as an immature man who possessed, and did not shrink from expressing, outrageous views”.
Commissioner Richard Mawrey QC
Your comments about local newspapers are, sadly, true. Now let me explain why.
Local newspapers are largely run by advertising salesmen and edited by people who lack either the education or the experience to understand political reporting.
Furthermore, political reporting requires time (and working out of hours) which local newspaper management don’t like. They would rather have a load of nonsense than one decent story about local government.
Also, the fixation with pictures above everything means management will want to come up with any old crap so long as there’s a picture.
Oh, and councils are usually big advertisers, so you’ll be encouraged not to be too critical of those in power. I know at least one reporter who was sacked after he wrote one story too many criticising the council.
Add to this the amount of lazy journalists (who really want to cover football, if male, or showbiz, of female
Mr or Mrs Ex-local,
If I lived near you, I would immediately offer to buy you a pint (or half-litre) or several if you are not driving.
Your concerns and observations echo mine – and I’m not a journalist (although I was thinking of joining the NUJ to upset my local council).
Newspapers once upon a time were champions of the public good, the public interest and campaigners against establishment wrong-doers including the police and the council.
I can not fault your impeccable analysis of a decaying local press whose editors prefer the council’s advertising budget to genuine journalism. Pictures of young children painting their faces, a wheelie bin fire, dog mess on the pavement and fines for no TV licenses plus council-written press release (CTRL-A to highlight, CTRL-C to copy and CTRL-V to insert the council’s version of events into the newspaper) is the substance of today’s dumbed-down local press news.
Meanwhile the real and important news remains unpublished except by amateur journalist residents with limited resources and limited exposure. That is why, as you accurately pointed-out, the Rahmans and their cliques flourish. One down at Tower Hamlets, hundreds more go on and on unlikely to eventually be challenged in court.
Love to publish a lengthy piece from you on the demise of the local press. Its an important topic and the story needs, in the public’s interest, to be told. http://u22.net/cat
Thanks.
Curious Cat.
You might want to ask Ted which local newspaper he worked for before he went off to the Express. 😉 He can no doubt give us chapter and verse on the pros and cons of local newspapers.
Thanks, I will ask Ted.
I would very much like a long article from Ex-Local. He expressed my experience well.
Thanks
CC.
[Continued]
…if female) who think politics is ‘boring’ and something ‘no one is interested in’ (my political stories always got the biggest response of anything in my old paper, but no matter) and you end up with local government being under reported. And that’s before we’ve ended up with the cuts that have raped the industry over the last few years, nor with the click bait fixation of local newspaper websites.
You were one of the last of a dying breed. The best local government correspondents have died, retired, quit or been sacked. And more Rahmans will happen, and nothing will be done.
Reblogged this on knightheadpoint and commented:
I am not really sure what to make of the political situation in England.
the Good: Corrupt mayor forced out office.
the Bad: that he was elected in the first place. I also find it disturbing that he is fully supported by Ken Livingstone and the labour party just won this area in the elections… So will anything change?