Pilton Sucks dotCom

Friends and readers.Yesterday Tuesday 29-o1-08 the Finance Committee reviewed a report on their commmon good assets which purported to explain why a site valued at amost 40 MILLION POUNDS was leased to developers for 200 years at ONE PENNY a year.

The Waverley Market site was a common good asset of the council’s until 1982 when they say it was transfered in error and then leased to developers. This piece of criminal negligence was the result of a report by Andy Wightman and featured in the recent inquiry by the Scottish Parliament which has been investigating the misuse of common good assets owned by the people and stewarded by councils which saw 1.6 BILLION POUNDS of common good assets dissapear in Scotland.

The Waverley Market site is now the Princess Mall development and if properly stewarded would have brought about 20 MILLION of income into the common good fund for uses to the benifit of the citizens of Edinburgh. This of course is a scandal and the council commissioned a report to investigate the circumstances of this gift to the developers.

Yesterdays report is the result of the furore over the loss of common good assets and sees the council admit another mistake by claiming that the site was not in fact a common good site and did in fact belong to the council in their general ownership.

So is this now all right then?

It is  not the citizens of Edinburgh who have been cheated out of 20 MILLION POUNDS in rental revenue but the ratepayers of Edinburgh whose council have let part of their property portfolio be given away.

Either way it is a scandal that warrants a full inquiry and not the whitewash it has been to date.

Friends and readers. One of our associates Anne received a typed letter on Saturday morning outlining in detail a serious allegation of mis-treatment at work. She passed the letter to  George who is handling matters like this on a full time basis.

The letter contained several incidents which happened to him while employed within the Social Work department. We ask this person to come forward to tell us exactly what happened and we will investigate. This person tells that while now employed within a different deparment he was subjected to behaviour which is described in his own words as leaving him at his wits end.

He goes on to describe a number of other events in detail which he said systematically broke him down. As we said we have forwarded this letter to George,and we ask again for this person to contact us through the channel he has already used and he can be assured his identity will be protected.   

Friends and readers. Our group of Social Work friends have been in touch with our associate George and have held a meeting with him to discuss the way forward. Our campaign against workplace bullying has now reached the ears of the Scottish Government,and we hear that very soon an MSP will be raising a question which will include what measures are being taken by employers to deal with workplace bullying.

Pilton Sucks has been lobbying for some time to get action on workplace bullying providing information on workplace bullying and it’s concequences for the victims and to the economy.

We now have two people working full time to raise awareness on bullying. George has been in touch with a number of large employers and he has received a positive responce from all of them regarding the action they would take if bullying was suspected. Several of them are forwarding to George their written policy which includes the action which would be taken both to prevent bullying and deal with any existing problems.

Midlothian Council who George visited recently have also said that any employee who is found to have taken part in any type of bullying whether it be while employed by them or while employed in another district before they came to Midlothian would be immediatly suspended pending a full outside investigation,as in Midlothians own words,-They take the threat of workplace bullying very seriously indeed-

It’s a great pity Edinburgh Council does not take the same view,but as the continuing pressure mounts to take action against bully’s in the workplace Edinburgh may indeed decide to move towards a bully free workplace.

The Social Workers group that met with George have drawn up an outline for a leaflet to be distributed City wide discribing in detail what to look for in your workplace,and how to spot bullying wheather it be overt or covert bullying. One of the Social workers within the group spent some time within the infamous Muirhouse Social Work Centre and has first hand experience of workplace bullying in action.

She was sickened by what she witnessed and has pushed for this leaflet to be distributed as soon as possible. Pilton Sucks has sent off the outline of the leaflet to a friendly printer who will play around with it a little and send it back to us for approval. Once we have the finished article and everybody involved has agreed distribution will start, and every city department will get one as will as many individual employees as possible.

 We will also make available several places where they can be picked up. Already we have the agreement of the Housing department at West Pilton Gardens to put up leaflets on their public notice board,and that’s just the start of what will be an intensive leafleting campaign. We have also costed a short film which will be in DVD format approximatly 5 minutes long giving details of the effects of workplace bullying on the victims and how best to deal with this hidden workplace disease. Again this will be made available to any interested parties.

So our campaign has jumped up a couple of notches as we become even more determined to rid the workplace of this evil which destroys lifes and careers. Remember bully’s are cowards who will covet favour with their superiors while targeting their chosen victim/s allowing then the freedom to strike and then deny and lie and hide behind others who are unaware or have closed their eyes to what’s going on.

Pilton Sucks and friends will continue to press for direct action against bully’s and demand that they be removed from the workplace. Workplace bullying is completly unacceptable in what ever form it appears in. Remember the bully has usually struck before and there may well be more than one victim,so the bully is well versed in lying and deceiving others into believing all is well.

Remember as well that when you report bullying,that is only the first step. You may well be up against more than the bully as few will want to admit to having a serial bully in their employ. The concequences for an employer who does nothing and takes no action against the bully can be wide and costly.

You may well be fed claptrap that action has been taken normally put as management intervention,this is a spin which is normally something which is said to replace, nothing has been done but we are covering our own asses.

So as we say watch out a bully might be about, be vigulant and protect yourself and your colleagues. A bully will not strike if you stick together, the bully will only strike while the victim is vunerable and alone allowing them an escape route.

Our leaflets will be available soon. in the meantime if you or any of your colleagues suspect ill treatment is going on report it,and name and shame the bully.

Friends and readers. The sleazy merger of the former Muirhouse Six Circle Project with the ever growing empire of PEP,still casts a dark cloud over this community. Pilton Sucks has lead the way in trying to unravel how this murkey merger ever came about.

Why was the former manager Jim Nichol,who was so obviously guilty of fraud ever allowed to escape proscecution? Why was he given a redundency package? or was this part of a hush money agreement? Why and who paid off the debt? and why was the management Committee which included a  senior  Health and Social Care Manager-Don Millar-[Criminal Justice] allowed to escape scrutiney?

And ultimatly who benifited apart from Mr. Nichol himself.We know now that the merger with PEP ahead with little or no objection and that the Six Circle Project disappeared into the black hole of PEP,only to emerge as something entirely different.

For this merger to suceed it needed to appear to be above board,which of course it wasn’t. What part did Don Millar the guardian of the statutory grant given to Six Circle play in all this? Mr. Millar seems to have emerged untouched by any of the twists and turns that took place.

This senior manager now hiding in Waverley Court had a duty to monitor the taxpayers interests,he did exactly the opposite and walked away careful not to be tainted with the sleaze to come.

So it is clear that Mr. Millar a senior manager within Criminal Justice has some serious questions to answer,and he is certainly not off the hook.

What part did the Pilton Parnership play in all this,did they in any way smooth the way for the PEP takeover with a helping cash hand. Of course everyone is aware that Councillor Macginnis was the chair of the funding panal at the time and of course co-incidently is now manager of PEP.

Did any of her fellow councillors at the time try to warn her off,we have reason to believe that former councillor Bill Fitzpatrick had serious reservations and a senior member of the council has told Pilton Sucks that he told her that,but she refused to listen.

So we know for certain that a crime of fraud was commited within the Six Circle Project by the then manager Jim Nichol. There should have been a criminal investigation was there one and if not why not? We know for certain that staff wages were not being paid,why was this not picked up immediatly?

How many people were actually involved in drawing up this merger and who was kept out of the loop? Why did the then Social Work Department not realise that their grant was being mis-used?and if they did why did they sit back and do nothing? Mr. Millar will have to answer for that. 

A document has emerged recently from  the a group within PEP outlining the underhand going’s on that lead up to this murkey merger. It seems that this dedicated group of people can no longer hold their silence over what went on and the effect that it had on the very vunerable client group that the Six Circle worked with.

Pilton Sucks has of course seen this document and now has it in it’s possession. It makes interesting reading,and we are now in the process of breaking down the document and getting the main players involved.

This was a very dark period in this community’s history and one that is yet to be fully explained. One thing is certain the mere fact of the secrecy involved leads to valid suspicions that this was indeed a very murkey merger.          

Friends and readers. Just a short post to let you know that our loyal and true MSP Malcolm Chisholm the former left wing firebrand and now upstanding member of the political elite voted against  extra cash coming to Edinburgh recognising its unique status as the capital city.

Well done Malcs North Edinburgh and Leith are proud of you,hope you can sleep at nights.

Friends and readers. It appears that our post-THE SUCKS VIEW- has hit a chord with many of our readers. Both our associates Helen and Anne have been inundated with comments with regards to street crime and it’s association with the demon drink.

This has been by far the most commented on post and goes to show how the average person feels about being feeling isolated when it comes to drink related crime on our streets.

With their consent we will print some of the comments below.

Tom from Trinity say’s IT’S ABOUT TIME WE TOOK ACTION AGAINST THE MINORITY WHO SPOIL IT FOR THE MAJORITY.

Mary Jane from Granton say’s. I’M FED UP AS I KNOW MANY OTHER PEOPLE ARE WITH THE DO-GOOD ATTITUDE THAT SEEMS TO RULE THE ROOST. 

Marion from Granton say’s. I’M NEW TO PILTON SUCKS BUT AT LAST SOMEONE IS TALKING SENSE THAT ORDINARY PEOPLE CAN UNDERSTAND.

Lawrence from Granton say’s. I’M AFRAID TO WALK ALONE AT NIGHTS SO I DON’T GO OUT MUCH MYSELF. IF THE LAW PROTECTED THE ORDINARY CITIZEN AS MUCH AS IT SEEMS TO PROTECT THOSE THAT WOULD DO US HARM,THEN WE MIGHT ALL BE BETTER OFF. I TOO AM NEW TO PILTON SUCKS,CARRY ON THE GOOD WORK.

This is just a few of the replies we have received. Our communities have got to be safe places to live in and to that end Pilton Sucks promotes the idea that we cannot have no-go areas or any nonsense like that. There is undoubtably a mood to re-dress the balance where the criminal does not fear punishment but the innocent members of the public fear crime.

Greater Pilton has it’s fair share of social problems,some of which can be addressed with the proper input from those best qualified to deal with them. But what is clearly not acceptable is the do-nothing attiude because there is nothing we can do. Our society has been caught up in mind numbing political correctness added to the fear that if you speak your mind you will be a social outcast.

Pilton Sucks realises that many of our politicians who would like to take the neccessary action are paralysed by stupid hurdles put in their way as part of a stratagy of inaction. And of course there are other politicians who use that as an excuse,for doing sweet F.A.

Locally we must put an end to shops selling alchohol ,tobacco,and any other product which has an age barrier. To often a blind eye is turned and local shops who we know about are making a quick buck knowing they can get away with it.

We now ask the citizens of Greater Pilton and the Forth Ward in general to report to the police any abuse of the age barrier that they see. Alchohol must not be sold to under 18’s or anybody who is obviously had to much. Just look at the Muirhouse shopping centre and ask yourself who sells these poor souls the drink to further ruin what is left of their health? The answer is within the shopping centre itself,but it seems to go unchecked.

This practice can not be tolerated as much for the individuals who consume drink as the shops that sell it to them. Look after your community should be the watchword and don’t allow the minority to ruin it for the majority. Pilton Sucks will be watching closely and be sure we will report any shop abusing or breaking the law.

Watch out Pilton Sucks is about. 

Friends and readers.It is long overdue for the citizens of this and other communities throughout the city to take a strong stand against our cites public houses,many who knowingly sell alcohol to those already under the influence.

Once these idiots spill out onto our streets trouble is never far away. The emergency services are the ones who have to pick up the tab and deal with the problem. Pilton Sucks believes that any publican who knowingly sells alchohol to already drunk individuals should have their licence removed permanently along with a heavy fine.

Take a walk if you dare along our city centre streets on a weekend night and you will almost certainly face abusive drunks intent on making their presence felt. Helen our associate and her partner whet to the filmhouse in Lothian Road last Friday,and when they came out and where walking down Lothian Road homeward bound they where shouted and sworn at by three drunk youths. One of the youths confronted Helen and asked for money for a taxi.Helen was rightly afraid and continued to walk down Lothian Road with her partner.

Fortunatly nothing came of the incident.She reported the matter to the police,but as you can imagine nothing came of it. This is only one of many incidents which are on our streets most weekends and by far and away the majority are drink related. It is now time to punish those that would sell drink not only to under age drinkers but also those that sell drink to already drunk people.

Our streets within the city centre must be made safe for all and not be the territory of a few mindless morons. Closer to home if we take a close look at the Muirhouse shopping centre if you can call it that,particularly the part that is enclosed, there is a shop which knowingly sells alchohol to individuals who abuse it and congregate within this enclosed area intimidating passers by.

Who is at fault we ask? Those that sell the alchohol,or the police for not enforcing the powers they have. After all Drylaw Police station is just at the top of the street.

For example if you wish to visit the Muirhouse Arts Centre of an evening you can walk through this enclosed area to get there. But would you? You should be able to without the fear of anything happening. Recently or more precisely in November we had the con that is firework night. We ask how do youngsters get a hold of what are potentially life threatening weapons?Answer the shops sell the fireworks to them. How can this be allowed? Simple the police don’t enforce the law puting members of the public at serious risk.

Over this October and November period Fireworks are set off at will and in the public streets,this is a crazy situation and again we see the shops flouting the law for a quick buck.

Pilton Sucks believes sales of fireworks to individuals should be banned and only properly licenced events be allowed to hold firework displays. Again if shops knowingly sell fireworks to youngsters they must have their trading licenced removed. Anne our associate recently witnessed a young boy aged about 12 buying a lottery ticket from an outlet in West Granton road. Another incident of a shop trying to make a quick buck and flouting the law and of course encouraging gambling.

Democracy is all very well and fine but it is abused if ordinary members of the public are put at risk because of it. Our streets and our children have got to be protected sometimes from themselves in order to create a safe place for people to live in. The police have an obligation to make sure  citizens can live in peace without the fear of attack or damage to themseves or their property.

This is where the community councils can play a part,by highlighting these problems and demanding action. If not then the wooly jerseyed do-gooders and the politically correct brigade will see off any attempt to re-address the situation.

Pilton Sucks is neither and we speak it as we see it. The Forth ward now has several community councils and a concerted effort to enforce the law would be welcomed by all.

We have said before that the Police are very good at targeting the motorist with every concievable law possible. They are an easy target and present a regular financial income. But if your home is broken into or your property damaged or even yourself damaged the experience of many is that the police will do little or nothing.

Pilton Sucks says lay off the motorist and target street crime where the majority of people suffer. Instead of hammering the motorist at every opportunity,hammer those that would do others harm. Punish severly those that would make living in communities like ours a living hell.

We all have the right to live in peace,we all have the right to go about our business without fear,if we can’t then democracy is breaking down. When the law breakers have the upper hand and most of the rights then something is seriously wrong and we should not be afraid to say so because we might be critisised by some uppity bafoon.

Redress the balance and make our streets safe for those that wish to live in peace. For those that don’t make the punishment fit the crime.    

Friends and readers. No doubt you are all to aware that after the season of good will and over indulgance is finished you are bombarded by adverts for three piece suites that would not fit anywhere unless you had a mansion,and our old favourite the package holiday. Of course in between all that shit you are constantly told that you need to get fit and slim,and to this end we have minor celebraties and their keep fit DVD’s.

All you have to do is buy the DVD move all your furniture out of the room and prance about like an idiot on your laminate flooring upsetting the neighbours as you bump and grind your way to super fitness. Just pop along to your nearest store and you can have your pick of fitness DVD’s with grinning celeb’s and their air brushed perfect bodies on the front covers in their figure hugging leotards telling us what fat bastards we are and if we buy this DVD we can wear a figure hugging leotard just like them.

With that thought in mind we purchased a couple of these exercise con’s and put them to the test. Anne voluteered to watch and possibly try out the various painful looking contorsions and report back to us. She did and the result,no she could not get into her figure hugging leotard nor some of the soft porn positions on offer. Her verdict pure crap and a complete waste of money. Wait till spring and pick them up from the bargain box or the buy one get one free shelf.

No friends don’t be conned by these cheap money making con tricks,just watch what you eat and take more exercise. Don’t follow Dave fatboy Hewitt’s example and shop and munch at Mathisons the baker over priced pies and horse meat sausage rolls.

So next time you see a z listed celeb bumping and grinding trying to con you out of your dosh just pick up your fish supper and throw it at the telly.

Friends and readers.As you will see Pilton Sucks has done a bit of early spring cleaning. We have freshened up the site a little but we will still be bringing you all the highs and lows of community living. Our contact arrangments still remain the same but we will be making it more accessable shortly. Pilton sucks has grown in popularity since it began,and we have even suprised ourselves with readers as far flung as Australia,Russia,Saudia Arabia and America where the idea was first spoken about by a couple of community residents.

Pilton sucks is a community site and will remain so although from time to time we will dabble in other issues. So if you have a spare minute read Pilton Sucks we won’t let you down.

It would seem friends and readers that the message Pilton Sucks is spreading that workplace bully’s have nowhere to hide even behind their line managers skirts,is getting through. Our contact Social Work group who are actively working against workplace bully’s have reported to Pilton Sucks that the comments made by Chief Social Worker and humanitarian of the year Michelle Miller that abuse of staff is acceptable has gone down like a lead balloon.

Just as she is desperate to cover up facts on workplace bullying staff are beginning to understand that action has to be taken against these jobsworth thugs. We have received a number of reports that suggest a statement will soon be issued from the Health and Social Care Department condeming any form of bullying and promising to take the sternest action against bully’s.

Better late than never,but this is more a panic measure than a conviction given what has gone on in Criminal justice and the cover up that followed. Our dossier on Workplace bullying is comprehensive and goes right to the very heart of how a bully operates and the lies and deceit that is used as a smoke screen to cover for unacceptable behaviour.

Many will remember Helen Green who was awarded £800,000 by the courts due to the treatment she received at the hands of a workplace bully. And more recently a worker from Grampian NHS was awarded £100,000 due to the treatment she received at the hands of her line manager.

Pilton Sucks believes that while compensation goes some way to help the victims of workplace bullying, it is not enough,the bully has to be punished to. There are two possible ways to do this allowing the bully to keep his/her job,just to show that Pilton Sucks does not condone revenge. First the bully is immediatly demoted,and is never allowed to have authority over other employees again. Second. The bully is registered as a known workplace bully and is monitored at their place of work. 

Pilton Sucks also believes and we have some political support for this,that a register of workplace bully’s is brought about similar to the register for sex offenders. A workplace bully is an offender,as they knowingly set about destroying another employee’s life. Somebody recently asked if we know of any such offenders and where they are. Yes we do names ,place of work  and offences committed.

Nothing happens in this community without Pilton Sucks getting to hear about it. We have a number of associates actively seeking information and we also have friendly associates those who wish to tell us what is going on but choose not to become actively involved.

That’s how we know about the missing million pounds from the community regeneration fund, and where it was spent and by whom. That’s how our associate George found out what was going on at Muirhouse Social Work Centre,a senior Social Worker told him and gave him names. Simple really. Pilton Sucks unlike the NEN will not edit the truth and will not lick some has been politicians ass.

The NEN knows about the bullying that went on in Muirhouse we told them in a detailed document removing names for the time being. They won’t print it nor will they print detailed information outlining corruption,not may we say from Pilton Sucks but from a concerned staff group. Yet they print practically a full page this month devoted to PEP. That cannot be right until you look a little closer to see who is pals with who.

Yes friends and readers if you want the facts read Pilton Sucks. If you don’t then read the edited NEN. Why when we gave them a break down on workplace bullying,it’s causes and effects,and it seems a growing workplace problem,and when they have it right under their noses,they do nothing. Strange don’t you think. Documents relating to serious mis-management at a well funded some would say overly funded community project where passed to NEN,nothing was done. Who is wagging the tail of the dog.

Pilton Sucks will investigate and if we find out what we think is true and the NEN is being operated from the back by anybody other than the management committee,then we will demand action immediate action to clean up this community newspaper. We already know the political  leanings of the NEN but should we uncover that this includes editing anything not favourable then we will expose it,be sure on that.

A number of people in this community have not had their say and their letters and comments rejected. Why is that? Pilton Sucks will print their letters should they wish unedited. This community has suffered for to long as the few have benifited and the many ignored. If you held a party card and you licked the right ass then you were okay. Pilton Sucks has no political allegiance and will never lick ass.

We want no workplace bully’s in this or any other community. We want the many to benifit and not the few party card holders. The playing field has been uneven for far to long.Pilton Sucks will even it up,bet on it.