Marc Waddington Of The Liverpool Echo Gets It Spot On.

Fed up with Liverpool Echo Advertorials by Alastair Machray & Co at Trinity 'Smoking' Mirrors at Oldham Hall Street we find it surprising that this bit of writing escapes the censors. We don't have to add to it just click on the picture.
Now maybe Marc could continue with the good work and look into the planning corruption that is going on right before his eyes.
Alastair Machray is in charge of the third rate journo's who have been turning a blind eye to the planning corruption while being spoon fed by the property developers PR companies. Shame on you Mr Machray....well done Marc lets have some more.

#TellAli-His Paper Is Corrupt.

Tell Ali, 
they are having a laugh, he has been told enough times, and does not listen. 






David Ward writes;

His paper the once proud Liverpool Echo, is the lowest form of news openly pandering to the lowest common denominator of the public.
While he has been Editor in Chief the paper has eroded itself to become a joke.
 It was corrupted a long time ago and now they try a PR exercise to pretend that Machray really cares. It was Alastair Machray who allowed his staff to become PR instruments for companies plying their trade on behalf of dodgy property developers.
It was Ali who allowed moonlighting journalists to run out out of control and  those that he made redundant are now working for PR companies that feed the pages of the Echo with trash.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/is-tony-mcdonough-of-liverpool-echo-on.html


Just take as an example the continual PR about the awful Titanic Hotel and his mates at Signature Living.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/joe-anderson-and-lawrence-kenwrights.html

We have a question to ask Ali...just how many people have you made redundant, and how can you sleep at night?

Some Further Reading
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/alastair-machray-apologises-but-its-too.html


http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-liverpool-echo-sinks-to-all-time.html

Tell Ali To bugger off, his paper is corrupt and then we might get a decent editor in who cares.

Save Peter Elson Of The Liverpool Echo-From Himself.

It is sad watching the decline of a once proud journalist.

We know the standard of the Liverpool Echo, under Alastair Machray has fallen to an all time low.

We don't expect this from people who should know better. Mr Elson. 

He has been spending far too much time promoting the Kenwrights Signature Living Brand.

Ignoring articles in Private Eye. He has taken PR through the local paper to a new low.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/joe-anderson-and-lawrence-kenwrights.html

Shame on you Peter Elson.

Forever sucking quotes out of our members to save the building at 30 James street, Elson now promotes its metaphorphing into something that looks more like a Texas brothel than a new use for a historic place.

We wish we had never got involved, to think we helped in the PR for this tacky regime to WAG out the interior of the old White Star Headquarters map room, to now look like Little Whorehouse on The Prairie 

Here is an example of some of what we would call Private PR Promotion. A blatant advertorial about.......a hotel room. Kenwright may as well have written it himself.
This is the death of journalism at an already rancid regime that has watched The Daily Ghost collapse and is taking whats left of the rancid carcass.  
Look at the comments section. this has allowed Signature Livings PR company to manipulate the comments pages. This is the local business community, turning the once free press into a pay as go scheme for The Kenwrights Signature Living Brand..

Though they at The Titanic Hotel did help Elson with The Daniel Adamson Trust Dinner, of which he is now grateful and is now thanking them profusely, no doubt.

Far from being annoyed here at LPT, it is a very, very sad day for what could have been an amazing project.
David Ward.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/revealed-first-pictures-inside-liverpools-7862349

Liverpool's newest flamboyant accommodation for party groups bursts into business next week when Morgan’s Vault throws open its steel doors at £1,700 a night.

It is carved out of the basement of 30 James Street – Home of the Titanic apartment hotel, former headquarters of the White Star Line, which was once owned by the banker John Pierpont Morgan.

What the straight-laced US multi-millionaire, who visited the building before World War I, would have felt about a luxurious private dormitory room for 20 guests being named after him will never be known, but the Vault already has its first booking for October 10.

During White Star Line’s prime the Vault is where plans for its superliners Titanic, Olympic and Britannic would have been stored with company cash deposits and huge handwritten ledgers recording the business of carrying people and freight across the world.

Now Morgan’s Vaults boasts 10 gilded double beds (all with “fun fur” bedspreads) with seven on the main floor and three on a gallery reached by ladders.

There are two whirlpool baths big enough for four people each and a secret spiral staircase to the spa below reached via a private steel safe door.

Not only does this sub-basement level contain spa treatment rooms and saunas, but also a colossal whirlpool bath 35ft by 18ft.

It’s fair to say the Vault’s occupants won’t be burning the midnight oil brain-storming about transatlantic travel economics as Mr Morgan once did with White Star’s founders, the equally upright Ismay family, in this venerable Grade-II listed property, built by them in 1898.

The future mood will be more likely dictated by the fact that the entire ceiling is covered with a giant classical mural of a full frontally naked Adam and Eve in discussion with a serpent.

The 300-bed hotel will stage a grand gala opening on Friday evening for 150 specially invited guests, although accommodation was available in stages over the last four months.

Lawrence Kenwright has spent £400,000 on Morgan’s Vault and the spa, out of a £7m total on buying and creating the hotel.

“Tourism is Liverpool’s big selling point and it’s the only way we can beat other cities, so we have to be dynamic and creative,” said Mr Kenwright.

“I don’t think there is anything like Morgan’s Vault in the world, but 30 James Street remains primarily a weddings hotel and we’ve 150 receptions booked over the next two years, which was from a standing start four months ago.”

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/is-tony-mcdonough-of-liverpool-echo-on.html

Tony McDonough Of The Liverpool Echo. Is He Peels Poodle?.

Another Advertorial for Peel Holdings from Trinity "Smoking" Mirrors of Oldham Hall Street.
Again from Tony MacDonut.
He seems to be a lap dog for Peel Holdings printing, in our opinion whatever they say.......without scrutiny or balance.
The whole article says nothing, repeats all the past promises, but it is dressed up as a good news story for MacNuts mates at Peel.
Four years after plans for Liverpool Waters, and even longer for Wirral Waters were passed, not a brick has been laid.
 Not a mention of the twenty thousand jobs that Peel said they would create.
 Just how they will do this while hiding the fact that Peel are now trying to offload the land to any dodgy Chinese investor with a few bob. Cash in their assets.

Not a mention of Ashworth's very own China Girl, Stella Shiu being exposed in Private Eye or the FT.
Shame on you McDonough.
MacDonut is blind to the facts, too intent on falling over himself backwards to be in with Peel, that he kids the public with maybe's.
There are better journalists than him, in our opinion, at The Merseymart...oh, thats now owned by Trinity "Smoking" Mirror. They will probably use the same article in the Bootle Times, such is the lack of quality.

There are so many of the so called journalists moonlighting as PR consultants that you have to ask are some the staff  of The Liverpool Echo being paid twice.
 Once from the phone hacking Trinity "Smoking" Mirror Group and  then again from the company that they are PR-ing for?
The Liverpool Echo
It really has sunk to an all time low.
Now we are not saying that they always take the cash for little moonlighting jobs, but maybe a little freebie or two, a little bit of entertaining or three.
We do have knowledge of this. watch this space.
 If it does not stop Machrays superiors will be informed.
Because as the editor, he lets it go on.
Most of them are doing it. It becomes the norm.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/david-bartlett-shoddy-journalist-why.html


Look at recent PR-ing for Lawrence Kenwright and his wife Katie of Signature Living.
Did she work for the Echo once?
Here is what Private Eye wrote.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/joe-anderson-and-lawrence-kenwrights.html

But Alastair Machray the disrespectful editor of the Liverpool Echo, completely ignored this and spoon fed the public with more tripe ignoring the facts about Kenwright being banned as a company director.
Its a tale of two cities. 
The one that the Echo journalists live in, and the real world.
 Its about time they changed sides before they have no readers left.

Mayor Joe Anderson in Private Eye Again.

While Joe Andersons capatalist regime is busy funding corrupt Property developers such as Nigel Russell of Middle England Developments, who has now abandoned St Andrews Church in Rodney Street after being sold it for a quid. Or trying to knock St Lukes Church out to Lawrence Kenwright of Signature Living.
He is also closing down our libraries...........some probably to be sold to dodgy property developers no doubt.
 Just because he cant read a book it does not mean the rest of the population don't want to..
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/joe-anderson-and-lawrence-kenwrights.html

Private Eye give him another mention.
Just who writes all this stuff for the Eye? click on photo to view.
Years ago Vicky Anderson of the now dead (thank god someone put it out of our misery) daily Ghost broke the news that Liverpool Library was to be sold off to a Developer and we would lease it back. This was put forward as a good news story, and she glibly wrote it up.
We now have a Labour council, with Chief Executive Ged Fitzgerald (ex cover up merchant of the Rotheram Child abuse scandals) at its helm. This city council is now behaving more like the Tories than Labour.
Derek Hatton and Co once tried to sell off the Town hall on a lease back basis.
Joe Anderson makes him look tame by comparison.

Further reading;

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/liverpool-library-to-sell-off-30000.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/liverpool-central-library-is-to-be.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/liverpool-central-library-turns-into.html


http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/liverpool-central-library-violation.html

Alastair Machray Apologises-But Its Too Little Too Late

So how come the editor of Trinity Mirror Group here on Merseyside was able to get away with this?

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-liverpool-echo-sinks-to-all-time.html

He makes a fool out of the city by throwing a headline together, that is in such bad taste that the Admiralty were made aware of it.
 Burgers and Ships, it read, at the start of the Battle of the Atlantic commemorations, or as the silly paper displayed more than once, Battle of the Atlantic celebrations.

The staff there at Old Hall Street have let him get out of control by not checking the man, by allowing him to subject the papers representations, and by doing so, theirs.
By giving out freebies from one of his mates, probably, at the Golf Club and chumming it along in a headline Machray has become a fool in the eyes of his journalists, some of who do work hard while others act as Frank McKenna's PR.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/frank-mckenna-is-alastair-machray-his.html

But not one of his scared little men challenged him; nobody will dare stand up to him.
Would they be Bevan Boys in times of war?.
It is no wonder the papers have lost circulation when the editor cannot be trusted.

A free burger from Iceland and his little bit of fun, by the man with the big title of, Editor in Chief, made all those news poodles look even more stupid than they already often do. With their ragged edge reporting direct from the council website and the numerous PR firms with ex Daily Post and Echo employees spinning rubbish, out of control.
 You should be ashamed of yourselves, really you should. There was time that your employees were respected, now you cant be trusted. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/boycott-liverpool-echo-you-know-it.html

Why nobody challenged him, is why he gets away with taking the paper down to such a low level, as low as, The Sun.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/should-alastair-machray-be-sacked-from.html

Members of the local Naval representation were shocked and horrified we were told, they felt let down and humiliated

Those that lie on the bottom of the sea that lost their lives tossed and turned for sure when, in our opinion, the ignorant man declared it to be a little bit of fun.
It is hard to put into words how small a man is, when he does not even realise his mistakes, when he is representing a city, that lost a generation, that fought for the undignified mans freedom of expression.

The press complaints commission, a waste of time, said they couldn’t investigate, what, they, called, bad taste.

So a front cover of humiliation proportions and Machray pints a one-inch square as an apology buried at the foot of the page so no one will notice.

How does he think he can get away with this?

Frank McKenna In Private Eye Again

How many members of Downtown Liverpool In Business do we have to look into before notice is taken in the local community here on, what Private Eye calls Murkeyside.

 Dont forget Frank McKenna sponsors the Liverpool Daily Ghost "views and blogs" section that contains the Editors blog, and is so often featured within the local papers that we think he is dictating the news.

The reality is that to expose the comings and goings of McKenna and his mates, it has to be done in other journals rather than Trinity "Smoking" Mirrors here on Murkeyside. This is a reality.

Why was this alleged VAT carousel fraud not exposed in the local papers.
 Was it blocked by the Editor?

Joe Anderson is a regular guest speaker at the events that McKenna puts together to sponsor his business partners.

Is The Liverpool Embassy in London a way for McKenna to extend his business clients?
These are questions we will be looking into..............as the corrupted systen that is the local papers dont seem to want to. 

Tom Murphy-Dumping Bad Sculpture On The Streets Of Liverpool.

Commissioned by people who will never understand form. They are the ones that have let Tom Murphy loose on a city, that did, have a tradition of fine sculpture.

Liverpool, at the turn of the last century, had the Art Sheds where the likes of Charles Allen worked. And now we have Tom Murphy’s shed.

Murphy is a best friend with David Charters at the Daily Ghost and he has continually publicised him over the years, feeding the artistically ill educated patrons with nonsense. Peter Elson interviewed him as the Big Interview for The Ghost.
An advertorial.
Laura Davis who is a good egg, writes this article.
Here in this weeks Daily or Weekly Ghost they are touting for him to get another job. It looks the worst one he has done.

This panel illustrated looks like it has been drawn by a 10-year-old snotty nosed kid not a competent crafts person, that Murphy is not.
Just look at Ken Dodd with a kebab at Lime Street Station. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/liverpool-european-capital-ofbad.html
The Bessie Braddock looks like a Sack with a head on it.
The Roily Polly’s outside Littlewoods are badly modelled even for chubby blokes who are not really members of the Wombles, and Johnny Walker at The Pier Head looks like he has had one whisky too many.
The writer declares that any sculpture that Spud Murphy likes to challenge him on he will make a better job of.

Here's some we did earlier.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/tom-murphy-dumping-bad-sculpture-on.html
We have to be very careful about the legacy of the boom era that has seen us trash the World Heritage Site to a shadow of its former glory.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/peace-monument-unveiled-for-john.html

Boycott The Liverpool Echo-You Know It Deserves It.

For too long now the rubbish that has been printed in the Liverpool Echo, edited by Alaistar Machray has gone unchallenged. You have watched while they have hidden facts and replaced those true facts with mistruths that are fed to them by shady PR companies. 

 We think it time that we watched very carefully just what the corrupted regime at Trinity "Smoking" Mirror Group at Oldham Hall Street is up to.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/should-alastair-machray-be-sacked-from.html And all you out there, especially Machray's Minions take a long hard look at the culture that exists. Never have so many been let down by so few. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-liverpool-echo-sinks-to-all-time.html

"We Are Not Tax Dodgers" say Peel Holdings- Oh Yeah! And My Auntie Is My Uncle.

Margeret Hodge accuses Peel of 'Tax Dodging'
Property giants Peel Group have been accused of ‘tax-dodging’ by an influential panel of MPs.


Tax crusader Margaret Hodge – famed for her attacks on Starbucks, Google and Amazon – dubbed the firm a virtual ‘monopoly’ and attacked the BBC for handing it millions of pounds in licence fee cash.
During an outing to Salford’s MediaCity, Mrs Hodge’s powerful public accounts committee grilled BBC chiefs on the value of their £1bn move north.
She singled out its contract with landlord Peel for criticism – claiming some parts of the giant pay no tax at all.
Committee chair Mrs Hodge began by congratulating those giving evidence – BBC North director Peter Salmon, BBC trustee Anthony Fry and Zarin Patel, its chief financial officer – on delivering the move on time and broadly within budget.
But she said they should have tried harder to find a firm that paid more tax.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/property-giant-peel-group-accused-4290988

This was reported in the Manchester Evening News. And not a mention  from The Daily Ghost or The Oldham Echo who did a tacky upbeat story instead to convince the readership who they educate, or dont, that Peel Holdings are Liverpool's Savior's despite Liverpools WHS being on the Unesco "In Danger" list..
We have asked serious questions of Liam Murphy and David Bartlett on how they have been  printing what Peels Media Company want him to without question.
Liam Murphy needs to be careful or he may end up with an IPPC complaint made against him and the corrupted paper that he works for.


‘We Are Not Tax Dodgers’, Says Peel


11 June


Peel Group, Manx-controlled owners of Manchester’s Trafford Centre and Liverpool’s docks, denied a Public Accounts Committee claim that they never pay more than ten per cent corporation tax. Margaret Hodge, chairwoman of the PAC and scourge of tax dodgers at Amazon, Starbucks and Google, said some parts of Peel’s £6.6 billion property empire ‘do not pay their fair share’ of tax. She criticised the BBC for handing millions of licence payers’ cash to Peel during a billion pound move from London to MediaCityUK at Salford Quays. She congratulated the BBC on delivering the project but said she was fed up of hearing about restrictions imposed by the EU forcing the BBC to deal with Peel. At a hearing in Salford she said,’Peel almost have a monopoly of a lot of capital investment in this area, which always worries me as to whether you, the BBC, gets the best price.’

Peel complained in a statement that they had not been warned about the attack. A spokesman said, ‘Following comments made at the Public Accounts Committee meeting on Monday, The Peel Group would like to make it clear that it rejects any assertion that it is not paying its fair share of corporation tax.All Peel operating businesses, including Peel Media (the developers and owners of MediaCityUK), are UK domiciled for taxation purposes and pay the appropriate level of UK tax.

http://www.thelancashiremagazine.co.uk/local-news/we-tax-dodgers-peel/

The Liverpool Echo Sinks To An All Time Low-A Free Burger To Honour The Battle Of The Atlantic Burgers and Ships

This is todays headline from the paper that claims so much.

It's sunk to an all time low today with a headline of BURGER & SHIPS at the start of The Battle of The Atlantic commemorations this week. Burgers &; Ships?
 It is outrageous that those in charge of how we present ourselves as a city, and a city, that did so much during the war to eradicate the U-Boat threat. (thye city that also allowed Neil Scales to cut up U534 rescued from a Norwegian Fford) now finds itseld represented at an all time low.
This is the responsibility of the editor, the uncultured Alaistair Machray who has shown himself repeatedly to be making the paper, that he claims to speak up for people of Merseyside, to be no more than The Sun.
Here it is, giving burgers away with what must be one of the worst tasting headlines we can remember.
To allow the front page to turn into an advertorial  this week should be a boycottable offence.
You should hang your head in shame Mr Machray, if you know what the word shame means.
Is this the best you can do, to honour those heroes who were on the Arctic convoys in blizzards fighting for freedom..................so you can dishonour them by giving away a free burger in an advertorial.
How did you get confused with anIcelandic Convoys and a free burger from Iceland?
You have shown us up.
Those men, yes real men, not soppy little ponces who complain if the central heating isn't working, but men who had to endure hardships unfathomable in today's age, risking their lives for freedom.
So clowns like you could discredit their endeavours seventy years or so later.
You should be ashamed of yourself, you have also let down all those hardworking journalists who had compiled a moving and dignified way of displaying our gratitude to the dead and the families of the dead and the Naval service as whole.
At first glance the thoughts were that it may be an outrage that there are takeout vans down at the Pier Head and these have no place there.

The sort of thing that The Oldham Echo's hard working shipping correspondent Peter Elson campaigns against.

To make a good impression, to the flocks of people who now get off at the Landing stage when Cruise Liners arrive, but the first thing they see are burger vans.
But no.

This paper should be boycotted for this outrageous level of disrespect fot the fallen navy personal and the Merchant Seamen who perished, some of who froze as soon as they hit the icy waters of the Atlantic. Who spent months at sea fighting cat and mouse games with a formidable foe.

 But no, get your free quarter pounder courtesy of Alaistar Machray and Co down at the disgusting little paper that shows no respect for people who did real work, risking thier lives.
And those journalists down at Oldham Hall Street that never stop whining about being overworked while they are deleting things from articles that may give the right impression to the public, take a hard look at yourselves.
You don't know what work is, sitting there in your air conditioned office. Remember the people that you today dishonoured with a disgraceful headline, fought, some of them fought and lost, with their lives for your freedom, so you can say what you like.
God help us there must be thousands of mariners today turning in thier icy graves in the dark depths of the Atlantic who thought they were fighting for your freedom.

HANG YOUR HEADS IN SHAME.

David Wade-Smith Costs Taxpayer £6.5million Quid

AND HE IS ON THE BOARD OF "THE DICTATOR" JOE ANDERSON'S MAYORAL DEVELOPMENT FUND

You cant make this up.
He is also the colleague of Frank McKenna's Downtown Liverpool in Joe Anderson's pocket, no wonder Private Eye keeps calling us Murkeyside. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/frank-mckenna-in-private-eye-again.html
In 2012 it was announced that Wade-Smith would join Herr Dictator Uncle Joe Anderson.
The set-up is completed by Julia Unwin, chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and city business leader David Wade-Smith.  http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-mayor-joe-anderson-announces-3340224
It was also anounced that Robert Hough a Director of Peel Holdings would join the board. http://www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=448 and its not just Liverpool that suffers from Peel Holdings.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/david-wade-smith-carping-on-with-same.html Wade-Smith was a darling of the Daily Ghost who kept on building him up........Bill Gleeson. you really do have a lot to answer for.
David Wade-Smith was a Chairman of the nest of spivs that is the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/liverpool-chamber-of-commerce-and-its.html as was Neil Scales "the moron who cut up U534 and its him that should be sectioned" He didnt like that.
Anyway sue us if you want you incompetent devious bastard hiding in plain view, right under the noses of the press and those that turn a blind eye. Scales is the right name you slippery little devious man.

 http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/merseytravel-try-to-gag-us-we-will-not.html We will not be gagged.
He also wasted £67,000,000 of our money on his hobby even Peter Elson was duped when he cut up the submarine rescued from the seabed intact and barged to Liverpool.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/neil-scales-and-merseytravel-spend.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/neil-scales-buggers-off-to-australia.html Now he has buggered off to Austrailia


Today it is reported by the very paper that was promoting the Livesmart as the new oyster card the newly promoted
David Bartlett wrote
More than £6.5m of taxpayers money was wasted by transport authority Merseytravel on the purchase of a smart card company that never made any money.

An internal audit found that Merseytravel’s acquisition of Livesmart delivered “little tangible benefit” to the organisation or the taxpayer.
The ECHO has seen parts of the audit, which is being kept under wraps by Merseytravel.
The review, which was overseen by St Helens council, said “significant failings in corporate governance” by Merseytravel led to the huge loss.
The organisation is now in the process of winding up Livesmart and its chairman Liam Robinson, who took over last summer, admitted mistakes were made.
He said: “It is fair to say that Livesmart was not a successful commercial venture, giving little return for a significant investment by Merseytravel.

“We recognise that mistakes have been made in the past, but we are determined to examine them, learn from them, and make sure they are not repeated. That is the process we are following with Livesmart.”

Livesmart was founded in 2004 by businessman David Wade-Smith.
It ran the popular 08 Capital of Culture card scheme offering discounts to shops, retailers, restaurants and bars across Liverpool. Merseytravel first became involved in the company in 2006.
In 2008 the transport authority paid £750,000 to increase its stake in the company from 24.9% to 87%.

At the time Neil Scales, then chief executive and director general for Merseytravel, said: “This is a sound investment for us. It is a company of real potential.

“We are literally just touching the surface in terms of the potential for smart card technology.”
But the company spent the past few years racking up the huge losses with Merseytravel pouring money into the firm.
Mr Wade-Smith resigned from the company in October 2010, as did fellow director Carl Speight.

On the same day £441,000 was paid out to shareholders.

This was revealed in the company’s accounts for the year ending March 31, 2011.

HOW DID THEY GET AWAY WITH THIS?

http://blogs.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/dalestreetblues/2009/12/oyster-cards-and-extra-buses-f.html David Bartlett once wrote how wonderful it would be for the city

Cains Brewery Con Job-The Dusanj Brothers Are Selling Out Our History For More Empty Apartments.

And it looks like they have got the backing of Joe Anderson and Co.
The planners must have been working on this scheme to develop the site with the owners of the company as they have already issued the press releases to the gullable Daily Ghost and Oldham Echo who promoted it for them on April 11th.

They told how wonderful it was to be in the local rag.

Cains announce £50m ‘Brewery Village’ plan to breathe new life into historic Liverpool site

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2013/04/11/cains-announce-50m-brewery-village-plan-to-breathe-new-life-into-historic-site-100252-33153568/


Now a month later Alaistair Houghton writes

 Union officials will visit Cains today to meet staff who lost their jobs after the company suspended its brewing operations.
Cains announced on Friday it was closing its loss-making supermarket own-label brewing and canning operation and axing 38 jobs.
The company, run by brothers Sudarghara and Ajmail Dusanj, has also started negotiations to sub-contract the brewing of Cains beers to a third party.
Franny Joyce, regional officer for Unite, is to meet affected workers to discuss what action they can take. Just 18 jobs remain at the site.
Production of beer at Cains’ landmark Stanhope Street site, off Parliament Street, stopped the week before last.
Cains said production will only resume if it wins permission to develop the site into a £50m “brewery village”.
The plans, revealed in the ECHO last month, would see the Grade II-listed redbrick original brewery building refurbished to house a craft brewery, a hotel, shops and a “delicatessen-type” food hall. A sky bar would also be installed on the roof.
The production sheds that face Parliament Street would be replaced by a supermarket with apartments on top.
Cains will submit its plans to Liverpool City Council this summer. If approved, work could start next year – but would take up to two years to complete.
On Friday a Cains spokesman told the ECHO: “Brewing at the site has been suspended while we progress our Brewery Village scheme and we are in negotiations to sub-contract the brewing of Cains products to a third- party brewery during this interim period.
“The nature of our brewery is such that its operation cannot be scaled down in a simple fashion and it would be financial madness to continue with such huge overheads for a relatively small brewing operation.”
He added: “We have said all along that the brewery is at the heart of our plans for the Brewery Village scheme and this remains the case.
“The existing brewery will be redesigned during the anticipated redevelopment so that it is more efficient and better suited for future use.
“We are continuing to discuss matters with our advisors about how we best manage winding up the current canning and brewery side of the business.
“Cains is alive and kicking and we are extremely positive about our future plans, which will secure brewing in the city for decades to come.”

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2013/05/13/liverpool-cains-brewery-staff-meet-unite-representations-after-operations-suspended-100252-33322547/ 



13/5/2013  Gordant wrote in the comments section
Another disgraceful move by the owners. They put alot of people out of work when they went bust then were allowed to buy back the company. It is a disgrace. City council should not allow any planning permission for these people as they are only looking to line their own pockets by ripping others off.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2013/05/10/liverpool-brewery-cains-closes-loss-making-supermarket-operation-with-loss-of-38-jobs-100252-33311799/

WHY ARE THE LOCAL PRESS NOT QUESTIONING THESE FLY BOY TACTICS.
WHEN WERE THESE PLANS HATCHED?

Linnetlane
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2013/05/11/cains-brewery-mothballed-as-38-jobs-are-lost-100252-33314619/
10:00 AM on 11/5/2013
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The brothers have a history of playing fast and loose with the brewery and its workforce that doesn't bode well for their ambitious plans for the redevelopment of the site.
Here's an account of some pretty suspect practices reported in the Echo in 2008:
It would be reassuring to see the Echo take a more critical stance towards the local business community.

DAVID BARTLETT SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF HIMSELF FOR NOT QUESTIONING THESE PLANS BUT JOLLYING IT UP AS A GOOD NEWS STORY ON APRIL 11TH
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2013/04/11/cains-announce-50m-brewery-village-plan-to-breathe-new-life-into-historic-site-100252-33153568/

HE WROTE

CAINS has launched an ambitious bid to create a £50m ‘Brewery Village’ on its historic Liverpool site.
The plan involves restoring its original Grade II listed building to house a craft brewery, a hotel, digital studios, a delicatessen-type food hall, independent shops and a sky bar on the roof.
The sheds at the front of the site on Parliament Street would be demolished to make way for a supermarket with apartments built on top.
Stanhope Street, which runs through the middle of the seven-acre site but is closed to traffic, would be opened up to help create a market street type environment.
The company hopes the new “village” would become an extension of the nearby budding Baltic Triangle creative area.

TO HOUSE A CRAFT BREWERY...............Why did he not question them?

Why did he turn this into a good news story?

Probably because its been spoon fed to him by some dodgy PR company.
He dismisses the buildings as sheds, when this is where people work.

Shame on you David a month later the real news comes out.

You have been conned.

You published a glass half full story when the glass was half empty.

This area has grants available.

Will the Cains con-job that putspeople on he dole recieve a development grantto put people out of work?
Will the site be a Tesco?

We all know "Every little hurts".

Louise Ellmans constituancy again.....while she is stating how important jobs are for the city when she is promoting her friends at Peel Holdings, she keeps her head down again.

Kings Waterfront Exhibition Centre and Hotel-More Boring Bland Boxes Next to the Albert Dock.

Today we reproduce a recent extract from Correspondent see Scriblings Jottings and Musings on the right hand roll of bloggers we trust.
Writing about the horrendous plans for Kings Dock Exhibition Centre, thrust on the public by Malcolm Kennedy and his willing lap dog Marc Waddington........where do they get these comedians from.
Here is one they did earlier. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/cllr-malcolm-kennedy-spins-marc.html
And another http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/councillor-malcolm-kennedy-manipulating.html
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/peel-holdings-running-liverpool-city.html


What has Malcolm Kennedy actually done?


The awful plans look like they are done by a student and here is an extract from a recent email and guess what they are being touted by a graduate.

" You will no doubt be aware of the proposals to develop an Exhibition Centre and Hotel at the Kings Waterfront, to the south of ACC Liverpool.

As you have an interest in the adjoining land, we would like to invite you to come to our public consultation exhibition, which is being held on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th February at ACC Liverpool. This is a pre-application consultation to which members of the public and local residents and businesses are being invited. The details are included in the attached invitation. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any further information regarding the project or the event."

Kind Regards

Ian Ford

Graduate Planner

Monday, February 04, 2013


Metropolis On The Mersey



One can only surmise that Big Al Machray & his minions at the Oldham Echo saw the silent movie classic Metropolis some years back & decided that Fritz Lang's 1927 production ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j8Ba9rWhUg  ) should act as the blueprint for the city of Liverpool & its port in particular.

That's the only conclusion to be drawn from the fawning adoration bestowed by Oldham Hall Street on yet another plan to "transform" the Kings Dock (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2013/02/01/futuristic-masterplan-to-transform-liverpool-s-king-dock-revealed-100252-32722917/
 ). A fetish for a futuristic dystopia would normally be sufficient reason to consult a psychiatrist. In Big Al's case, however, it qualifies him to edit a paper whose capacity for self-delusion & denial would impress Saddam's former spin doctor, Comical Ali.

The Echo's piece has been penned by Marc Waddington, who enthuses:

"Up to 1,000 jobs could be created by the new masterplan for the waterfront area, which will include apartments, offices, hotels & leisure complexes."

Here we go again with Echo buzz phrases. "Up to" a thousand jobs, you say? So it could be considerably fewer than that. Going by previous instances, it would be sensible to view that phrase as, well, imaginative. Additionally, the use of "could" is a sure indication that Oldham Hall Street is doing its usual trick of whistling in the wind while the icy blast of a triple-dip recession, coupled with the cuts, freezes Merseyside more effectively than any meteorological factors.

Then there's the artist's impression of what the Kings Dock "could" (copyright Oldham Hall Street) look like, &, yes, it is truly hideous, a fact not lost on a few commenters. "BigEnd" (nice moniker) declares:

"This looks like the lovechild of the Malmaison Hotel and the new museum. With a dash of DNA from the ferry terminal. Please -- are there any architects out there with some sense of style? We deserve better than this."

Yes, BigEnd, we certainly do. Alas, we won't get it while the Oldham Echo champions such monstrosities.

Another commenter (Stewart f43) asks:

"Is it just me, or do these designs look like something out of Star Wars? 'Brutalist' isn't the expression for this -- try 'plain ugly'. Was nothing learned from the awful old Pier Head design?"

To which one must sadly reply that nothing will ever be learned by the latter-day Bourbons who hail such grotesque vanity projects as graceful adornments to the city's Botoxed waterfront.

So who is behind this plan that the Echo is keen to promote? Well, it's the work of the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA), whose chief executive Deborah McLaughlin is quoted in Waddington's piece. However, she cautions:

"No specific figure has been put on investment in the overall development plan, but it is likely to run into hundreds of millions of pounds."

That's conveniently ambiguous, wouldn't you say? Moreover, it beggars belief to view the project itself as viable in the near to mid-term future when the economy is, at best becalmed in the ConDems' Doldrums, & any lending from the banks for infrastructure projects is a bit like Liverpool's chances of a Champions League place: nice in theory, but impossible in practice.

The role of messenger is crucial in cases such as this. As messenger, the Oldham Echo yet again shows a dispiriting willingness to publish what is effectively a puff-piece for HCA. The Echo is well-versed in promoting the interests of unaccountable, unelected business interests & their schemes to "regenerate" the region (do I hear the name Peel Holdings faintly in the distance?). That Waddington's article is a puff-piece is apparent from reading HCA's own blurb about the project (http://www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/news/plan-transform-kings-dock-liverpool ), the use of terms such as "transform" & "masterplan" eerily evident in the HCA piece as well as a suitably supportive quote from Cllr Malcolm Kennedy, the city council's cabinet member for regeneration. Cllr Kennedy has been vocal in his view that the "development" of the Lime Street area has been good for the city. Those with aesthetic taste would beg to differ.

The waterfront has been disfigured by supposedly grand projects which say more about the backers of such schemes than any PR blurbs could hope to obscure. Those schemes have veered between farce & wilful civic vandalism (http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/mann-island-has-structural-problems.html
& http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/unesco-state-of-conservation-report-1st.html

Fritz Lang's classic was supposed to act as a cautionary tale against the dangerous cocktail of hubris & technology; the apparent "progress" being merely a mirage. It's a lesson the civic goons, the Oldham Echo & the business interests they eagerly acclaim are destined to ignore.

Liverpool Vision-Blind Mans Bluffers-Can't They See The Damage?

Today in the Liverpool Daily Ghost we have another advertorial plumper, this time for Joe Andersons Liverpool Vision. How can they at the Daily Ghost be blind to the facts of what is really going on.

Liverpool (lack of) Vision are the purveyors of the three black coffins at Mann Island. David Wade-Smith says he rescued the Cruise Terminal from going under, whilst on the Vision board, but forgot to look at the small print, as it is now an embarrassment that the Liners cant depart from it.

 Now they issue a press release saying; 
REGENERATION agency Liverpool Vision has pledged to make the city “a beacon for enterprise”.

In its annual review for 2010-11, Vision has listed its targets for coming years – including a pledge to “establish Liverpool as a top international and national investment location with dynamic trade, investment, knowledge and tourism relationships”.
Vision also pledges to make Liverpool a city with a global reputation for science, creativity and innovation. The agency also wants to see Liverpool “become the number one culture and visitor destination in the UK outside London”. It is also backing a Strategic Regeneration Framework to revive the economic fortunes of North Liverpool and South Sefton. Vision chairman Mike Parker said: “In difficult economic conditions Liverpool Vision has again fulfilled a pivotal role for the city while adapting to the changing priorities of the city. “It has been an important year that has allowed us to capitalise on our hugely successful presence at the World Expo in Shanghai. “We are forging new global relationships and detailing Liverpool’s outstanding offer as a place in which to work, live, invest, study and visit.

“Much is still to be done to improve the quality of Liverpool’s physical and business environment to help emerging high value sectors realise their potential, to promote innovation and competitiveness and support business in creating jobs and wealth. Liverpool Vision will remain in the vanguard of this work.”

Liverpool City Council leader, Cllr Joe Anderson, said: “Vision is Liverpool’s business-facing organisation and is trusted and respected by the private sector. “This trust and its reputation for delivery are crucial if it is to help Liverpool to continue to grow and prosper in the future.”

 Strange that the Times has a different slant altogether in this weekends paper. click on the photo to read.

Incidently, they show a ten year old picture, Heaven knows I'm miserable now.

Liverpool Looting Their Own Community?

And its looting by the very council officials that are now empowered to clean up the "War Zones" that they trashed in the first place with a lack of respect and disdain for the people in their own area. You wont find this in the local press who turn the disturbances into an advertorial for Grosvenor.


A Council boss who described government cuts as "severe" and "daunting" received more than £2,000 a day for 39 days' work - equivalent to an annual package of more than £400,000.


Ged Fitzgerald, then new chief executive of Liverpool City Council, received salary and pension contributions worth £80,936 between February 7 and March 31 this year, according to the local authority's accounts.

The accounts also show that the outgoing chief executive, Colin Hilton , received £113,175 in salary for just two months in April and May last year.

Hilton also received £30,000 as "compensation for loss of employment" and a bonus of £26,396.

Eric Pickles, the local government minister, last year called Liverpool council "out of touch" after it advertised for a new executive at £197,000 a year - £50,000 more than the prime minister earns.

When told of Fitzgerald and Hilton's pay this weekend, Pickles said: "Good Lord. They had said they would be paying less to their executives."

Shortly after joining the council in February, Fitzgerald spoke publicly of the "whirlwind" he faced as the tried to balance the local authority's books.
"I don't think anybody really knew the size and severity of the challenge that we had around our budget," he said. "I literally .... sat in my office of the best part of a monthly with a calculator where only the minus button was working. It was very, very challenging.,
"I have every sympathy for all the members of staff .... It took us a lot of working through to balance the budget, and £91m out of a usable amount of £400m was a really big, daunting challenge".

A spokesman for the council denied that Fitzgerald was earning a salary of £400,000 a year, but was unable to confirm the true amount.
Matthew Sinclair director of the TaxPayers Alliance, said: "These eye-watering pay packages at Liverpool city council are a disgrace at a time when there is so much pressure on the finances of the council and the families who ultimately pick up the bill.
Taxpayers should not be asked to accept austerity on the front line but still see a gilded age in full swing in the town hall."

Colin "Cover Up" Hilton who was hand picked by Mike Storey and Warren "War Zones" Bradley should be paying a fine for the mess he created as Chief Executive allowing a billion pounds European Objective One Funds being squandered. 
All three of them were responsible for the Cruise Liner 'Jetty' Cock Up and the trashing of the World Heritage Site...........And whilst not condoning the disturbances what has happened to these people for allowing the destruction of huge areas of Toxteth such as the Welsh Streets.