Pilton Sucks dotCom

Friends and readers. MSP Shirley Anne Sommerville has managed to get information under the freedom of information act which reveals that TIE [Tram inititive Edinburgh] staff have received over£900,000 in bonuses.

This is completly unacceptable and a City disgrace. Bonuses for what you may ask,turning up for work possibly. Delays cock ups congestion traders losing business and a City under seige.

These useless bastards pick up bonuses for that mess,have we all gone crazy,these idiots should have been sacked a long time ago,in fact Pilton Sucks will go further,close the bloody lot down and fill in the holes in the road.

This Tram crap has been a farce from the start,nobody really wants it,and never have. Labours big idea was a joke right from the start now the blame will rest on others shoulders. 

These bonuses should be removed with immediate effect and at the very least given to charity, not into the pockets of incompetent staff.

Well done to Ms. Sommerville for getting this information out into the public arena,information that many others would have preferred hidden.   

Friends and readers. We like to give praise as well as constructive critisism,and so with that in mind we would like to say That new Councillor Elaine Morris has hit the ground running. We have heard nothing but good reports about Councillor Morris and it appears she has been a breath of fresh air in this Community.

It seems she wants to get things done and we fully support her in this, some what difficult job. To say it is unusual to see a politician actually working for the Community they represent is an understatement,so full praise goes to Councillor Morris. Councillor Cardownies reporting of what he found out down Waterfront way showes he too has an energy to change things and make a positive difference to this Community. Both of these politicians have shown that things can be done if the will is there. 

So carry on the good work and push ahead. 

Friends and readers. As you know all the noise about the end of civilisation as we know it,with regards to the Fairer Scotland Fund came to nothing. At the time of it’s introduction Pilton Sucks suggested that employees of local projects could perhaps take a pay cut to help their projects,during this economic downturn.

Of course that fell on deaf ears as we knew it would,and we also said at the time it was more about self interest than service delivery. We reported to you that some individuals who took a different line on the new funding were intimidated at the meeting that was held at the West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre,and we were told that one or two were even threatened if they openly voiced their opinions about what they seen as self interest dominating proceedings.

Pilton Sucks will not be intimidated and we still are of the opinion that local projects must get their houses in order if they wish to continue providing services to this Community.

Pilton Sucks said many moons ago that a local Labour contract should have been put in place at the start of the Waterfront development to allow locals to benefit from jobs and training. That was ignored.

We demanded that Waterfront Edinburgh Limited[WEL] insist that at least 20% of the houses built were affordable both to buy or rent,that to was ignored.

NETE [North Edinburgh Training and Employment] a project that was well placed to deliver local training was shut down and £250,000 given to an organisation called Working Links to deliver the same,what have they done,someone please tell us as we see no obvious signs. NETE was shut down on a poiltical whim and this Community never recovered.

 This Community as a whole has never benefitted from the Watefront Development as it should have,and this is a disgrace and blame firmly lies with the ruling party at the time.

So the reality is clear those that did most of the intimidating and shouting at the most recent local meeting have gone to ground until the next time,where were they when this Community was sold short by their pals.

What we are left with is what might have been if the proper people had taken the right decisions,now we have construction slowing down and employment tight.

But there is still an opportunity there to be taken if the will is there. This time let’s get it right.              

Friends and readers. Our old mate Nigel shagger Griffiths is pretty well off as we all know,but did you know that shagger has clocked up over £935,ooo in expences alone,not bad eh.

And what has shagger done for all this dosh,well we know at least two honourable things he has been up to.

The well documented office expence claim fiddle and his frolick in the House of Commons with colour pic’s of course just to relive the moment when he has got nothing else to do.

This honourable MP is a disgrace and deserves to be booted out,what is even stranger is that his constituency party hasn’t done that already.

Local man John Wallace has announced he will stand against Griffiths on an anti sleaze ticket,and with a majority of 405 Griffiths should be making plans for his downfall.

We the mug punters elect individuals to represent us in Parliament,what is now clear is that Griffiths and his greedy mates are in the business of representing themselves.

It’s time to rid ourselves of these greedy sleazy no-goods and turn our attentions to those that have no allegiance to party politics.

So we say good luck to Mr. Wallace whenever the election comes around,and let’s see more individuals come forward to take up the mantel of honest politics and ditch those greedy party hacks for good.

Mr. Wallace is standing for election in Edinburgh South,who will come forward to challege the party hacks,Darling and barbecue man Lazarovicz in Central and North respectively.

Both of these honourable members have also been creaming off the dosh, within the rules of course and truely deserve to be kicked out. Darling the career politician and arguably the worst Chancellor in living memory,manages to make sure his own expence house is in order,but does nothing to alleviate the misery caused to many during this downturn.

As for wine drinking barbecue lover Lazarovicz he tells us he needs all of his £130,000 expences to run his office,and he said that without blinking.

 Here is what we think Darling should have done to help the weakest and those that are suffering most.

He grandly told the nation that all those fatcats earning over £150,000 a year would pay a base rate of 50p. Big deal he should have gone a lot further and made a real difference.

Pilton Sucks suggests that the amount earned should have come down to £50,000 a year and all allowances removed. Those earning £15,000 a year or less be removed from the tax bracket altogether. If Darling was serious about saving dosh the immediate cancelling of Trident and the stupid ID cards would have saved £20 billion,but that was not even mentioned.

An end to golden handshakes and a 50% tax on the pension handouts to the fatcats of this nation. A shake up of the monster that is Whitehall with major departments told to save at least 10% a year on spending over the lifetime of a Parliament or have their budgets reduced by the same amount if they don’t comply.

He done none of this and bowed to pressure from above. This was a nothing budget from a nothing Chancellor,which will only increase the misery and pain on the weakest in our society.

His comrades in the city will continue to dodge paying anything they can and Darling has done nothing to close the loopholes in the system. Labours deregulating of the city will cause Britain to suffer more and longer during this depression,but him and his cronies will be alright,and that’s all that counts in this Chancellor’s mind.         

Friends and readers. We receive reports regularly concerning workplace bullying from all over the country,which has made us realise just how large the problem is.

By far the majority are from local Government staff,who tell us much the same thing,they are bullied by someone in authority.

Why is it that local Authorities have more than their fair share of these individuals who target others to hide their own limitations?

Our campaign to bring an end to this workplace disease has hit the mark,with a number of victims now more prepared to come forward and report bullying.

our campaign started with the revelations of serial staff abuse at the notorious Centre in Muirhouse,and the major cover up that followed.

We take this opportunity to thank those that have contacted us and told their stories,our campaign will continue,until Government introduces legislation outlawing workplace bullying,making it a criminal offence.

We also take this opportunity to offer some simple advice  after we received an interesting post this week from a suprising source.

Yes Mr. Anderson if the information we have from your friend that wrote to us is correct you had better watch your back or you to will be bullied by a casual. 

Friends and readers. Food prices up,fuel prices on the increase,job losses escalating,and we ship more troops out to Afganistan to protect an oil pipe line using democracy as an excuse.

The Government lied about the threat Iraq posed to us all and we spent millions for what?to make sure the oil was protected. Blair has long gone and is making his fortune on the lecture circuit leaving his comrade Brown to finish the mess he started.

Labour are all but dead in the water and are merely clinging on to power in the hope that the electorate will remember how vicious the Torries were and still are.

But the electorate has changed and many will not have experienced Tory rule and all it’s hate for the poor,and will be prepared to take a chance with them. The Torries don’t have any answers other than to attack the weakest amongst us,but since Labour are already doing that then nothing will change.

Our politics by nature are corrupt and the voters expect to be lied to and are rarely suprised when it happens,only this time it’s different.

This present crisis has penetrated deeper that any other and may yet go further. Many will lose their homes,jobs,savings and families will be put under severe pressure.

This Government cannot blame anybody else or try and palm the blame off on to outside forces. Three terms of Labour Government have brought us to this point in time and the Chancellor for most of that time is now Prime Minister,a job he so coveted and plotted for,and has now been proven to be unfit for the officer he desired so much.

He allowed the fuel companies to rob us,he allowed an unjust war to carry on and now intensify in Afganistan,he now watches people lose their jobs and homes and say’s a lot but does nothing.

He has the power given to him by his party not the electorate to stop home repocessions,we own most of the financial insitutuions and he in the peoples name should demand, and get an end to repocessions. Nobody,nobody should lose their home because of an economic downturn which was not of their making.

This alone is a national disgrace and borders on an obcenity,because a few greedy bankers were above the law of the land  still remain aloof from it all. They fucked their pals in Government and done it gladly and then took the money and ran.

That greedy bastard Goodwin is just one of a number of fat cat sods who milked it for everything they coud get,and the Governments man Myres knew all about it and lied to a Commons select Committee.

Even then he nor his buddies had the balls to own up and come clean about their private club arrangements. And what does Brown do,nothing,nothing at all.

So when Labour lose the next election Don’t blink because the Parliamentary party,what will be left of them will dump Brown quicker than they can fill their expence sheets in.                 

Friends and readers. As we write this obituary to the Labour Party,the Party of the people Hi-jacked a long time ago by the middle class trendies and Guardian readers,we ask what happened to the principles given them by Kier Hardie.

Labour has long since deserted it’s roots in favour of the chattering class brigade who will ultimatly throw them out of office.

They sucked up to the city slickers who in turn have brought this country to it’s knees and the verge of destruction. Financial armagedon approaches and all Labour can do is chuck money at the problem,money we have not got.

In their desire to please the city Labour took it’s eye off the ball and allowed de-regulation to take place,now we own most of the banks and still they please themselves.

Each one of us will have to pay the penalty for the blunders of a few,who sit back comfortable in the knowledge that their fat cat hand outs and pensions will protect them.

Thousands of workers pensions have been destroyed alongside savings. existing pensioners have seen their savings disappear without hope of return and still the banks do as they please sticking two fingers up to business and Government.

We are in a mess with no sign of recovery and many more job losses to come. It is very likely that Brown will have to go to the country with 3 million + out of work.

This time round he will not be able to manifacture a war to get him back in,much more likely is he will be kicked out and into oblivion,along with his hopeless Chancellor and their expence sheets.

Why time after time do Labour constiuency party’s select middle class privately educated wanabees,who have proven to be absolute crap at the job. What happened to working class members getting a chance to stand as a candidate.

Our own worthies here in Edinburgh and North Leith have Mark Lazarowicz as their defender of the faith another one who has been found out in  expence gate.

Who does Mr. Lazarowicz represent apart from himself,certainly not the people in this Consituency who will really feel the pain and suffering of recession. His wine and barbecue buddies of the New Town might pat him on the back for mixing with the rabble and tell him what a jolly good chap he is,but many others blame him and his greedy pals for landing the rest of us in the shit .

Mr. Lazarowicz has a wafer thin majority disappearing before his very eyes,and when he should have been screaming at the top of his voice for the poor in his constituency,where was he? hiding away filling in his expence sheet all £130,000 of it.

He and his leech like comrades have been well and truely caught out and no amount of excuse making will convince the punters he has not been on the fiddle,within the rules of course.          

Friends and readers. Yet another Government Minister has been caught on the expences merry go round.

This time none other than our noble Chancellor Alistair Darling. Along with shagger Griffiths Darling has been helping himself to the taxpayers cash and pleading innocence about any wrong doing.

This from the worst Chancellor in living memory and we have had some duffers,the right Honourable Alistair has been hard at it in the great expences free for all. 

Alongside Beckett and McNulty Darling has been robbing the taxpayers to feather his own nest while many thousands of individuals are struggling to make ends meet.

Have these vultures no sense of shame,do they really think they can hide behind the rules,and keep their noses in the trough. These bunch of sleazy no-goods make John Majors Govenment look like angels.

Major was rightly tossed out by  the voters after his lot were completly engulfed in sleaze and corruption.Now Browns mob think they can get away with it as well. Oh no you Don’t  and a minor miracle will be needed to keep this tired greedy lot in office.

Shagger Griffiths will be thrown out by his punters in Edinburgh South and if that Labour Constituency Party had any thoughts for the voters they would deselect Griffiths with immediate effect,for if they don’t Labour will certainly lose that seat.

The same goes for Darling. The executive Committee of that consituency party should call an meeting to discuss the future of their MP and be bold and smart enough to get rid of him.

Labour is sinking by the day and if the Torries were not as bad as they are they would be a lot further ahead in the polls in fact out of sight of the crumbling Labour Party.

The peoples party has shown scant regard for the hardship being faced by many, and for so many Government Ministers caught with their fingers in the till and their trousers down it’s nothing short of an absolute disgrace and shame on you. 

Friends and readers. It will not suprise you to know that still no action has been taken against the two jobsworth bullys who abused staff at the infamous Muirhouse Social Work Centre.

Our source a senior worker has told Pilton Sucks that concern has grown amongst staff that a known bully is still free to abuse staff and has been given a green light to carry on.

His former associate now plying his trade in Dalkeith must also think he has got away with it,due to what can only be described as weak management.

These two who are well known in Criminal Justice circles abused several members of staff over a period of time.

We are told that those that came forward to complain of ill treatment were ignored at first until the evidence became to strong to ignore,then it was just covered up.

All the evidence clearly shows that a serial bully cannot stop and must have a target,so we are sure that somebody else has or will become a victim of bullying in this Centre in Muirhouse,and they must take immediate action.

From what we have discovered the Muirhouse victims came up against a ring of protection designed to keep bullying covered up and prevent a melt down with complaint after complaint.

We beleive this was a serious error,as should other complaints come forward,those that done nothing will have some serious questions to answer. 

Workplace bullying is an evil which must be removed from the workplace. Those that would make others lives a misery have no honour or courage and are just simply cowards who target individuals to improve their own worthless selves.

These cowards must be removed from the workplace,for the sake of the victims and the organisation itself. They must never be allowed authority over others for that is a licence to bully.

Remember if you have been bullied or in any way threatened in your place of work,report it immediatly,don’t let it go tell someone, make sure your colleagues know what is happening to you. Write it down and let someone in authority see it,someone who has authority over the bully. Inform your Union representative immediatly  if you have one,and keep a diary of events.

If the bully is known then this should out him/her. Your complaint will be that bit stronger if complaints about abusive behaviour have gone on before.

It is a huge mistake to do nothing and hope it goes away. The more staff complain about bullying the stronger the case for action to be taken against those that woud make others lives a misery.        

Friends and readers. As usual rumours are flying around the Community about this and that,and as usual Pilton Sucks has it’s finger on the pulse.

It appears we are told that our favourite Community newspaper NEN has gone trendy left in it’s thinking with Labour supporter Ken Smart on the board alongside Martin Hinds partner of our favourite catwalk queen Lesley,coupled with reporter and former Labour Councillor Dave Pickering,it’s almost like a Labour love in.

Of course we are sure that their politics will have no bearing in the content of the paper——that’s a laugh——but we have been told that our Lesley will appear in the centre pages this month modeling the lastest Valentino creations just to brighten up the paper.

We have also been informed that the Edinburgh Association of Community Councils will be holding their AGM on 20th June 2009 in the City Chambers. We are also told that current chair Norman Bonney will not stand for re-election.

Meanwhile the NET [North Edinburgh Trust] formely the Pilton Partnership has been going through a period of transition. Former manager Ian Cooke has left for pastures new and a new leader is still out there waiting to be found. Although it appears the Trust is already on to it’s second temporary manager according to the circulating rumours.

Strange they can find two stand in’s but can’t find a permanent one,could it be as one cynic put it–they can’t find one who votes the right way–  

On the subject of voting,many people will not have missed the Edinburgh Evening news last week which published oue MP’s expences,and who came near the top of the trough?why our old friend and comrade Mark well heeled Lazarowicz,who told the readers after his massive claim was published that he needed all that dosh just to run his office.

Is it any wonder people are sick of these greedy no-goods who feather their own nests and then hide behind the rules,the rules may we say that are printed in the carefully hidden from public scrutiny Green Book. Yes Mark we know it exists.

So our noble MP who has a wafer thin majority,has done himself no favours with the voters in his constituency particularly those who have lost their jobs and are struggling to make ends meet,although Mark and his New Town chattering class buddies won’t be to bothered about that,as they are more concerned about the weather as the barbecue and wine season gets into swing.

Maybe Mark and Sir Fred Goodwin could get together and donate some of their hard earned candy to the lesser people who are on their knees. There is more chance of Pilton Sucks winning an Evening Standard award.

Back at the ranch our Lesley did not put her name forward for the all woman shortlist in Edinburgh East,why ever not we ask? Could it be that yet another rumour is correct and our catwalk queen is waiting ready to pounce on Comrade Chisholm,who is busy at the moment counting up how much his pension is worth,let us hope he did not take Marks advice and let Sir Fred invest it for him.