When will the bullying stop at NCC?

 

This week it has been widely reported that Cramlington Conservative Councillor Christine Dunbar has been further bullied when someone painted a personal anti Dunbar slogan on a football field in the Town using weedkiller, the slogan has apparently been removed by Council Grounds staff.

County Councillor Dunbar was one of the three Cramlington Conservative Councillors who stood up against the dreadful Conservative bully boys at County Hall and voted with the opposition groups to remove the alleged chief protagonist Councillor Peter Jackson from office last year. 

We believe we will hear more from the County Council on his antics shortly following major investigations by an external investigator who is reporting back to the Council's Standards of Public Life team.

The new Leader of the Conservative group at County Hall following Councillor Jacksons demise from office Councillor Sanderson offered Ms. Dunbar a deputy portfolio position in his cabinet in May 2021. A post she stood down from in October 2021 with local social media citing alleged bullying as the reason. Ms. Dunbar, an ex-cop was replaced by another ex-cop, a close friend of the Hexham MP Guy Opperman, Councillor Gordon Stewart to replace her. A man whose former cop life has been widely exposed through the publication of a court case he was part of against a Chief Constable. It didn't go well for Councillor Stewart.

So we ask, when will the bullying at County Hall stop and will Councillor Dunbar join others who have left the Conservative Party after episodes of bullying and stand on an independent ticket at the next election? 

Probably a wise thing to do as the collapse of confidence in anything Conservative won't be cured by a simple change of leadership at the top of the Party. Neoliberalism is now well ingrained at all levels of Tory society and the public are feeling the strain and the effects of a 'jab' won't give the national 'herd' immunity from the ballot box however quickly the Tories twist the boundaries in their favour or remove scrutiny and probity from Parliament and Councils to run the nation through a series of Governors with a despot at the top.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/cramlington-councillor-defiant-vandals-target-22566365?utm_source=linkCopy&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar

https://twnews.co.uk/amp/gb-news/cramlington-councillor-defiant-as-vandals-target-her-with-upsetting-message-scrawled-in-weedkiller

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/what-happened-during-turbulent-two-19489139?utm_source=linkCopy&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar

https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/News/2021/May/Council-unveils-new-Cabinet.aspx

Will the 'Secret Council' succumb and pay the 'Regal Tithe'? or has it already?

Although most readers of this blog would like their County Council, based in Morpeth to be held accountable in a similar fashion to the Bryony Frost bullying stories, Councillors as well as many residents do not seem to want to be faced with anymore 'towel up' photos as was the habit of at least one of the accused bullies who may have their misdemeanors hidden under a bushel by the do nowt and say nowt Tories at County Hall. 

In a don't do as I do, do as I always do, keep the truth secret, The Tories latest angle for political wit was to criticise some Blyth and Wansbeck Councillors who attended a meeting in the rural Coalfield for deserting their posts whilst having their own photos taken miles from their wards in the about to be destroyed through their arrogance, Town Square in Blyth when they should have been paying homage to their Lord and Master in Alnwick.

Lord Percy, their Duke and the Local Tories Tory, who hasn't found another rare painting next to his washer dryer at Syon House this year needs some dosh and is trying to get that moolah from his mates at the County Council!

According to the Brentford edition of the Metro which describes itself as the World's most popular free newspaper on 17th Dec. 2021 printed an article entitled the 'Harry Potter Duke and the railway line of ire.' describing the Dukes latest 'Tithe' expected to be slipped over to his coffers each side every year by the Tories from the empty pockets of their Council Tax payers. The Metro wrote:

One of Britain's richest aristocrats is accused of using 'archaic' rules to stop a new rail service crossing his estate unless he gets £600,000 a year in rent.

The reinstated Northumberland line axed in the 1960's Beeching cuts - will link Ashington and Blyth to Newcastle which locals say will boost the Towns.

But Ralph Percy, 64- 12th Duke of Northumberland and worth £315million- is said to be in dispute over wayleave contracts agreed when the lines were built as coal handling routes on his land.

Richard Turney, Northumberland County Council Lawyer, calls tge deals 'archaic' and highly contentious adding the Duke twice threatened the wayleaves…. With an extraordinary demand for more than £600,000 rent.

The Duke whose Alnwick Castle was used in the Harry Potter films, insists he 'backs the line and agreed access and land with the Council'. His firm blamed a separate dispute with Network Rail, who are attempting to claim private property rights without appropriate consultation and compensation.

But local Stephen Rowe 45, said 'Its money grabbing - just plain and simple'.

The murky question we must ask the 'Secret Tory Council' is, if an agreement has been reached by the Dukes 'Firm' with your 'Firm' for annual rent compensation, how much is it and what's it for?

https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/brentfords-syon-park-seen-many-7404831

Tories letting down their farming power base.

 

Relying on foreign trade deals has failed to safeguard food supplies and is damaging lifetimes of family investments.

The agricultural, livestock and horticultural industries have been meeting across the UK with cross-sector calls for the Government to ensure food security for the nation by 'fixing' the country's supply chain problems and not hiding behind spin and mass hysteria to mask the 'State of the Nation'.

A summit of the affected organisations was called by the National Farmers Union to discuss the issues. The summit called on Government to commit to a minimum of 60% grown and produced in Britain self sufficiency. 

A local Northumberland farmers wife spoke with us regarding the current dire situation the industry finds itself in. She said "I'm so upset with whom I consider to be my Government selling us down the river in this fashion. The statements we were anointed with during the Brexit campaign regarding help for the farming and fishing industries have turned sour since and many of us who have invested generations of time in our land and surrounding seas feel completely and utterly let down by the current crop of charlatans who are letting this nation down, who want to see our marketplaces flooded with cheap foreign imports."

The Leader of Northumberland Labour Group, Councillor Scott Dickinson said: "being brought up in and now a Councillor for a rural area of Northumberland I know first hand how worried my friends and neighbours who rely for their livelihoods on agriculture horticulture and fishing feel about this Government's treatment of them and their families". "For many families the stand taken by the Tories is a complete letdown when compared with the promises given when Britain chose to leave Europe. People in the industry expected some of the supposed savings would be spent on strengthening their industry. Instead they now know that the lies were told by the Tories to weaken the strength they had gained through membership of the EU and the Government's carpet bagging investor mates will be the only winners until a Labour Government gains access to the keys of No.10".

Has Hexham's MP given up reading official advice?

As many readers of this blog will know there's a by election taking place in Hexham East on the back of the Tory Council's loss of a member who was named as a bully and activities across the Council which are being investigated by professionals which will be the basis of a number of standards board cases to bottom out the attacks on staff from leading Tory Councillors. This of course is coupled with Government's failure to tackle sleaze or control the avarice of its members when boozy parties are available to attend.

Guy Opperman MP has issued the attached letter around the ward of Hexham East in what is possibly a vain attempt to colour the outcome of a local government election. We here at murky believe he must have missed this year's guidance from Parliament on this issue so shouldn't be too bothered if we remind the public as to what advice and guidance contains:

2021 guidance

- Particular care should be taken over official support, and

the use of public resources, including publicity, for government announcements that could have a bearing on matters relevant to the elections. 

-In some cases it may be better to defer an announcement until after the elections, but this would need to be balanced carefully against any implication that deferral could itself influence the political outcome. 

-Each case should be considered on its merits. Care should also be taken in relation to proposed visits. Special care should be taken in respect of paid publicity campaigns and to ensure that publicity is not open to the criticism that it is being undertaken for party political purposes.

-There should be even-handedness in meeting information requests from the different political parties and campaigning groups.

Guy's revelations regarding funding for the Town, although wrong in their entirety, will fall outside these guidelines. As a self important legal eagle he should not have let himself or his constituents down in this manner and really should have known better.

Running away while constituents suffer has changed the respect circle in Northumberland.

 

Storm Arwen brought an awful time for many residents of England's most northerly constituency, Berwick upon Tweed, with many Councillors trying their level best to organise help for their neighbour's and constituents. 

The Council is currently run by a Conservative administration who were halted from being able to deliver what people needed throughout the storm period because their Leadership pairing were both away on annual leave.

Then without warning or much consideration for her constituents the local MP, Anne-Marie Trevelyan deserted the people in their hour of need and went off to the USA on a jolly said to bring American business to the UK. But in words of a local from a Berwick Facebook page "she's buggered off to get her Christmas shopping done". Whether that's correct or not remains to be seen on her return, but it was an interesting point of view.

This democratic void brought the spotlight onto a number of opposition Councillors who pulled out all of the stops and were praised so highly by those they had delivered for and to that Anne-Marie Trevelyan will have loads of competition at the next general election.

The four-way split across the circle of respect was extremely interesting to us at murky as the complement numbers rolled out on a constant and even footing shared between both the sexes and the political parties but this point we will form our initial list with girls first in alphabetical order then the boy Councillors, we will expose our not so very scientific run around social media later where we  collected and formed  a rough result.

Councillor Georgia Hill

Councillor Isobel Hunter

Councillor Steven Bridgett 

Councillor Scott Dickinson

All four managed the press and media in an admirable fashion and kept as many people informed as possible while their utility company problems existed. All four were also mentioned in dispatches as being a better bet than the current incumbent to become Berwicks MP at the next General election.

Their differing styles of reaching the same end brought forward compliments from a wide variation of respondents on comment sections of Facebook and the twittering world. With the action pair of Hill and Dickinson and the diplomatic version of council work undertaken by Hunter and Bridgett bringing out supporters by the score, many of whom had not bothered to get involved with any political side taking previously as far as we could see.

Our whole team got stuck in and searched through as many links and comments as possible with the end results very close indeed.

Our scores on the doors looked like this

1.    Councillor Bridgett.  207

2.    Councillors Hill and Dickinson 204 that's after 3 recounts

    4.     Councillor Hunter.    202

We didn’t find anyone praising Mrs Trevelyan, not even her office staff, even though they may be expecting a present from the states on her return.

Oh! We won't be accepting any further admissions to murky the waters of the Tweed and Coquet with a late flurry. Our results are final and as David Dickinson says, "this is certainly the real deal".