JIHADIST WATCH - AT THE BECKETTS PARK MARINA

Adam Simmonds, Northamptonshire's hapless Police and Crime Commissioner, may be doing more to destroy single handedly the local Tory's future election chances at the moment than the whole of the combined opposition could muster in a lifetime.

But as he puts his first annual budget to bed after a somewhat pointless low key consultation excercise he would do well to reflect on some of the County forces more bizarre spending commitments and question whether or not he and the force have got all of their priorities in order.

On Friday whilst waiting to be collected for a meeting next to a the Police forces stand in the Guildhalls One Stop Shop, I happened across a warning on a leaflet from Northamptonshire Police informing me that the local constabulary together with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and the UK Border Agency were

"Strengthening our borders"

and were

"Protecting the waterways of Northamptonshire"

Feeling relieved that Becketts Park Marina was now safe from any imminent Al Queda strike I couldn't help read further into the very nice and glossy leaflet to discover more as to how I as a member of the public could play my full part in protecting the County's borders from water bound Jihadists and International smuggling rings. I wasn't disappointed.

But was does a river vigilante look and listen for I hear you ask? Well amongst the very helpful advise i was told to be on my guards for people who give

"evasive answers to common boating questions"

Now, I have always been suspicious about people who don't know the difference between their boating knots and I will now make a point of asking so called daytrippers and holiday boaters to tell me the difference between their Alpine Butterfly Bends and Rat Tail Stoppers.

Also there was some very helpful advise for my future Grand Union Canal watch on suspiciously painted Narrowboats I should I am told  be wary of

"persons walking around the vessel independent of each other, taking notes ostensibly on operations and meeting as a group after their observations are recorded to compare notes"

please click for full leaflet and more from PROJECT PEGASUS

Wow, I just new that all of those bearded guys (and some girls, with and without beards) from the Northamptonshire Inland Waterways Association were really up to no good inviting boats in from other parts of the country to cross the counties water border to rally on frog island. And to think I used to sit and sip real ale with them and answer their questions on government affairs!

I will now have to call the Project Kraken hotline to share with them my concerns or I could email them at their dedicated email ports@northants.pnn.police.uk

And for those of you now really worried about the safety of the Stoke Bruene canal museum and or an unwelcome assault up the Blisworth tunnel you can also watch the northantspolice youtube video below for more handy tips on spotting the Marine based mujaheddin. The video fronted by TV presenter Nici Matthews begins with images from 9-11 before going on to show us clips of battleships, sea based military operations and young couples being caught under boat tarpaulins obviously up to no good. My favourite clip is the "How to spot a terrorist section" apparently they could look like Belgian female students! The video it seems was shot in Hamphire and may not be too relevant for River Nene based surveillance operations

Now of course terrorism is no joke, and we all I am sure are aware of when something is just not right, but in times of austerity and competing pressures on police funding is Project Kraken and their combined leaflet and video spend really a top priority in Britain's most landlocked county?

And before you all go off on boat watch, if you think the above is just a one off then how about pondering over the police spend on PROJECT PEGASUS !

You guessed it Northamptonshire Polices high profile campaign against possible serious crime and terrorist activity at the County's International Airports (well Sywell) Now let me be clear here Sywell could well be a target for terrorist activity and plane based attacks, after all the whole 911 atrocity started with flight training at a similar US based airport, but we already have clear operational procedures in place to protect our airstrips small and large. So do we really need a high profile public input? Sywell may only cater for just a handful of flights each day but the public leaflet and associated video warn us all to be on our guard against strange questions from pilots, crew or passengers.

please click for full page

please click for full page

Now again whilst probably and realistically more of a threat than any boat based Taliban threat, is it necessary to have anything more than our local special branch having a word in the ear of the the management and staff at Sywell to keep us all safe from any major light aircraft threat.

Do we the Northamptonshire public, who rarely if ever visit Sywell apart from the odd wedding reception really need leaflets and videos to inform us all to look to the skies and be aware of strange aviation activity when visiting Sywell?

Perhaps Adam Simmonds could inform us how the above Projects fit into his "Getting better value for money" pledge?

Or as the man says himself

“Much is known about what policing strategies can reduce crime and what things are a waste of public money. I will ensure that evidence forms part of local debate about policing. I will not be afraid to pilot innovative approaches to crime reduction and learn from mistakes."

TAKING THE ELECTORATE FOR GRANT - AID

So, no news, emails or interventions from within the Local Labour Party about cleaning up their own act or accepting that they still have work to do to become the sort of party you would like to join on a local basis. Of the three "issues" I raised in an earlier post I have laid one of them to one side on the request of an individual involved as they themselves attempt to seek their own justice, so more of that perhaps at a later date, so instead lets us start with the tale below, which I shall entitle:

TAKING THE ELECTORATE FOR GRANT AID

'The events below and in other posts are as told to me by people (plural) concerned about the issues outlined therein and the lack of any disciplinary action seemingly taken either within the Borough Council Labour Group or at any higher level. It is for others to judge the culpability of those involved and the probability of success of any disciplinary action and also for the Labour Party to act should it wish to do so .If any person involved identifies themselves and wishes me to consider altering or removing any provable errors in the post then I will be happy to do so if they contact me.

I ask just one simple question, why is it that some party members seem to be excluded and expelled for what are very minor misdemeanour's and after long winded investigations and disciplinary hearings whilst others seem to be blessed with no action being taken for what would be in most people opinion much more serious offences?"

Funding and grants for local charities and organisations are becoming harder and harder to source as Local Authorities and national funders both clamp down on funding streams and replace long term community financing with short term political handouts often disguised as "Empowerment Funds" or "Community Chests"

Imagine then the delight of a chair of a local organisation when they received an e-mail from a local Labour Borough Cllr informing them that their organisation had had an application approved by the Borough Council for the sum £15,000 for funding to provide training and community events withiin their area, all they now had to do to receive the money was to sign on the dotted line.

Well initial delight turned very quickly into troubled uneasiness when the chair of the organisation realised that they had never actually submitted an application to the Council in the first place and didn't need the training or events proposed! What's more it seemed that these same "Training and Community" events were to be provided by a company run by? You guessed it the same Labour Cllr who had submitted the application and informed them of the windfall themselves!

Being 100% above board and not interested in anything remotely dodgy the Chair immediately called a meeting of the organisations executive committee and laid out to them all what had happened, the committee were outraged, how had someone been allowed to make an application for funding out on their behalf, and in their name without their knowledge or authority? How had this Labour Cllr decided what their organisation needed when applying for monies? And how was it that the Labour Cllr responsible for submitting the application to the same Council they served on would also be benefiting from the payment of the grant by providing services through their own company?

The last straw for the committee was that the chair of their organisation was also a Labour Cllr on the same Authority and they wanted no blame or stain being placed on his reputation by the independent actions of another Cllr without his knowledge. The executive therefore asked that the police and the council be informed of their concerns, and as a matter of courtesy the Labour Group were also informed. The police having I am told spoken to the local authority decided on this occasion to take no further action, they were willing to accept that as a new Cllr the individual involved was probably not as aware of the rules and laws surrounding grant funding as they should have been, and as a consequence they would be given the benefit of doubt in the belief that they were attempting to serve the community irrespective of any potential private gain.

The issue caused some understandable friction between the two Cllrs concerned and should have led to the Cllr responsible for self submitting the grant on behalf of an other organisation without their consent or even knowledge being dealt with internally by the party and told to be much more careful in future.

And yet less than two months later this same Labour Cllr submitted another grant application on behalf of another charity group for a daytime event in their ward, this time the organisation were aware of the application being made and of the Cllrs role in assisting them with it. The problem this time though is that the application was submitted to a local funder with little to no real information purporting to the organisation (details of officers, membership, accounts, costings of the event etc) and was submitted under an address which belonged to a completely different organisation (a local church) who had no idea that their address was being used to support the funding bid! The Cllr then attracted further funding for the event from their fellow Borough and County Cllrs through their empowerment funds (supposedly with the same poor level of detail).

And then what happened? Well AN event took place, but not the one mentioned in the funding requests, it was at least on the same day, but took place in the evening rather than the applied for "Daytime" family based activities mentioned in the application and instead of providing support for the local resident community the event was a UK wide "Nation Day" event which has been a part of the calender for many years where members of a local ethnic community invite their friends and family from across the Country to come together to party late into the night, a great and colourful event it always is, I know because I have attended on more than one occasion over the years, and have thoroughly enjoyed it but it has never needed funding before as the Community members themselves bring their own food and provide their own entertainment. So just what was promised regarding the funding that was given and what exactly was it spent on?

A third application from the same Cllr to a funding body on behalf of another third party came to my attention this week which it seems also (unsurprisingly) has not met the criteria level for providing the relevant information regarding either the organisation or the costing and provision of the services requested to be provided through the funding, surprise surprise.

Over the years Labour Councils and groups across the UK have been embarrassed more than once over funding bids which were not all they were made out to be, individual Cllrs have found themselves in very hot water after being found to personally benefit from grants they themselves had a hand in acquiring.

So I wonder what our local Labour Group has to say about the above?

Freedoms inner kingdom remains untouched by exterior attacks

Followers of the "FREE THE CASTLE WARD 2" story http://tonyclarkeindependent.blogspot.com/2009/07/labour-tough-on-crime-tough-on-causes.html will be delighted to hear that the continued free liberty of Alderman Dickie and Cllr Clarke has now been confirmed by the powers that be.

News reaches me from Northamptonshire Police that after careful Consideration by the Crown Prosecution Service in York that the CPS has decided that it is not in the public interest to prosecute us for forgetting to put our usual imprint on one leaflet during this years County Council Elections

As such they will be taking "no further action" in this matter, and my fingerprints are to be destroyed (bit pointless really as they hold my DNA with my blessing from the 4 years I served as a Special Constable)

As I have said previously I bear no grudge to the Police on this matter they were simply doing their job, but I still feel very aggrieved at the waste of the Police service and CPS 's time and money having to process a complaint which was never going anywhere and was instigated by the Labour Party as what can only be seen as an act of spitefulness and childish revenge against us for having the audacity to be elected by a sizeable majority.

But from what seems to be happening within Northampton South Constituency Labour Party at the moment it seems the inquisition has now moved onwards or more so inwards.

So with our Liberty assured will myself and John be now seeking revenge?

Not a hope.

Sacha Guity once infamously said of revenge:

"When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her

And the way myself and John feel about what is being done to the Party that we gave between us over 65 years of loyal service to is that we can find no happiness in revenge or by seeking to get back at those responsible, but to them we would simply say:

"When cowards and traitors steal your Party, there is no better revenge than to let them keep it"

Meanwhile we will now celebrate our assured freedom over a glass or two of something suitable and we would like to thank each and every one of you for you messages of support and offers to bail us out or spring us from the pokey.

Cheers - and God Bless You All

Free the Castle Ward Two - Update

Well, thankfully myself and John are still at liberty, still awaiting the careful consideration from the Crown Prosecution Services finest minds in their York Based electoral Fraud Office, (See post below, Labour tough on Crime Soft in the head) But the stupidity of our foes it seems knows no limits or bounds.

First of all let me apologise to one or two members of Northampton South Constituency Labour Party who were upset at my general swipe at the party in the last post, it is clear to me now that they or the collective local party, had no hand in "grassing us up" or the decision to do so!

The real snitch and defender of the public good against malicious imprint crime it seems was Tess Scott's agent Les Marriot who we are told acted alone as an individual, although when questioned by unhappy members as to his actions and also for effectively shooting the party in the foot he said that if he "hadn't have done it then, someone else would have" The mind boggles.

Anyhow to my delight I was recently given a copy of Labours latest leaflet that is doing the rounds in Castle and Ecton Brook Wards. It is a shiny little number from 'Clyde and Tess' or 'Clyde and Keith' with scripted text telling us that they called round today (they perhaps would have done better if they called around during the election)

The leaflet is pretty inoffensive, the usual knocking copy and grumble sheet, but it wasn't that which caught my eye. It was not surprisingly the imprint.

The all important legally necessary imprint on the leaflet tells us that it was "Promoted by David Brede. On behalf of Clyde Loakes and Tess Scott all at 97 Charles Street, Northampton NN1 3BG and printed at The Labour Club, 97 Charles Street, Northampton NN1 3BG"

All fine apart from the fact that the Labour Club is a separate business to the Labour Party and has no print facility. The print facility is NLPP (Northampton Labour Print and Press?) and is situated upstairs at 97 Charles Street in the "Labour Halls" office Their printer an aging but well used risograpth doesn't print on glossy card and cannot produce any colours apart from black red and yellow.

So where was this glossy blue, black and white card printed then? it certainly wasn't printed at 97 Charles Street that's for sure? It seems Clyde is unhappy with the quality of their output? And if it wasn't printed at Charles Street why say it was? At least my heinous crime was committed by omission (i.e. I forgot to put an imprint on it) instead of like theirs being an outright deception to hide its true origin, and as a result any expenditure on it.

It was suggested to me that I report this scandalous breach of the imprint law to the boys in blue, as an act of revenge, but of course I won't as I can't be bothered and mores the point I wouldn't waste the time and resources of the Police or the CPS on such a petty misdemeanour. Perhaps Les Marriot will dob em in? Or one of the other caped crusaders of the peoples print police he refers to.

But whatever happens I do hope that someone will learn the lesson relating to stones and greenhouses and I also believe that Clyde and Tess they should concentrate their minds on explaining their actions to NLPP and why they feel it is OK to use their name and company address on a leaflet that was clearly not produced by them. After all the Tax man just might ask NLPP where the invoice is?

In the meantime myself and John are plotting an escape to Dubrovnik in the event that the news from York isn't good

Labour, Tough on Crime, Soft in the Head.

OK its a fair cop, we will both come quietly, we have no choice, they have us bang to rights and as we speak black arrows are being sewn on two over sized grey prison suits and Mrs Clarke and Mrs Dickie are busy baking cakes shaped like files (or files shaped like cakes?)

So heinous is the crime that we have committed that both of us are at this very moment considering our respective positions.

John, is concerned as to whether or not he will ever be able to show his face again in St Peter's Church where as the only atheist church warden in Britain he ably assists in the organising of small arts programmes for the masses.

I, likewise feel it only fair to inform my fellow members of the Woody Guthrie appreciation Society that I may have to relinquish my membership to save them any future embarrassment.

My foes will no doubt take great delight in hearing that last week I was asked to present myself at Campbell Square Police Station, where in the hands of two of the constabulary's finest Senior Fraud Detective Officers I was questioned for an hour and 15 minutes and then duly processed, photographed and fingerprinted ready for Justice to have its wicked way with me.

Thankfully, I was then released, a free man once again, to now await the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service in York who will no doubt ponder over the severity of my offence and whether or not the public will be best served by a trial and a possible financial punishment or our incarceration.

So what was our crime? what evil acts did myself and JD inflict on the good people of Castle Ward.

"WE FORGOT TO PUT AN IMPRINT ON A LETTER SENT OUT IN THE COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTIONS"

There, I have said it, admitted my guilt. For those who think I have gone mad, or that the police have equally lost their marbles, I will explain all. I was cautioned under section 110 of the Representation of the People Act, which makes it an offence to send out unsolicited mail during an election which may seek to hide the identity of the sender and/or defame another candidate.

All of our leaflets (bar this one) carried the imprint:

'Printed by NIV Press 30 Ethel Street, Northampton and Published/Promoted by John Dickie, 2 Western View, Northampton'

The offending leaflet (which was in fact a letter) was sent to 1200 postal voters within the ward asking them for their support, it carried my name, home address, phone number, email, website, and a photo and my personal signature (we were hardly trying to hide my identity) and it did not mention the other candidates. Our other five items of election material were all properly imprinted, and on this occasion there was simply an error of omission on our part, with clearly no ulterior motive or intent.

So surely the Returning Officer, the Police and the Crown Prosecution Service are all wasting time and your money chasing myself and John around the town and preparing us for our possible time in pokey?

Not so. You see they had no choice, once a complaint had been made and an offence reported they were duty bound to follow it up.

Last Year in the 2008 elections across the UK 26 such offences were processed. 25 resulted in no further action and the one that proceeded to court was part of a much broader breach of the act where offence had been caused to other candidates.

So step forward those brave souls and vigilantes responsible for bringing us to book, or if you prefer step forward those responsible for wasting Police and CPS time and money on frivolous complaints. We give praise to ..........

THE LABOUR PARTY

We know not whether the brave soldiers who grassed us up were from the Regional or Local Party, neither can we guess what their motive was? or what they hoped to gain from their endevour? but we are sure that you are feeling a lot safer in your beds in the knowledge that the peoples party is still willing to be tough on the criminal classes and ready and willing to pounce on the guilty.

In the meantime if I disappear from the blog scene for a while or you hear that I have gone on an unexpected enforced holiday can someone please set up a campaign to:

"FREE THE CASTLE WARD TWO"

As keeping myself and John in Pokey for a month or two will cost the taxpayer a fortune.