Typical Shameless Family promotion?

Project "Secret Santa" has begun.

A ruthless pursuit of power by the ambitious and shameless?

Unfortunately our town suffers as a result of such political self-promotion.

But what is project "Secret Santa"?

Rest assured Dear Reader, it isn't a hideous Paul Rowen Santa Toby Jug giveaway.

Yo ho NO.

Are the worthy aims of the "Shop local" campaign about to be hijacked for petty politiking?

In the run up to Christmas the Lib Dem friendly Rochdale Observer will run a feature and competition to promote local shopping for the "typical" Rochdale family.

"typical"?

Could it be...

The Manson Family?


The Addams Family?


The Smith Family?

No. No. No.

But there is a clue as to who this "typical" family will be.
There will be lots of happy photos and product placement.

The "typical" family will be:

Mum - Jayne (age 40s)
Dad - Greg (age 40s)
Daughter – Bianca (age 21)
Son – Sebastian (age 18)
Daughter – Georgia (age 12)
Daughter – Amber (Age 6)
Grandma (age 70s)
Granddad (age 70s)

Obviously this is a fake, made-up family?
No-one would stoop so low as to use their private family for petty public politics?

Greg (age 40s)?

Shurley not Cllr Gregory Couzens?

Could this mean lots of photos of grinning Greg in the Ob acting as Father Christmas?

Bulging sacks, full of loverly gifts for charidee?

Our Greg - just the sort of "typical family" man that should be Leader of Rochdale Council instead of that "exposed" Alan Taylor?

Is that the sinister side to Greg's shameless self promotion?


Alan, beware of "ambitious", "typical family" men bearing gifts in bulging sacks.

Rochdale Lib Dem politics is a dirty, shameless business- even when "Secret Santa" is involved.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to.

Poor Dave Hennigan.

Although callously removed from Paul Rowen's lucrative parliamentary payroll, he remains outwardly loyal. Dave warns he is back in Heywood and will make sure Cllr Rush retains his seat. That is Peter Rush, the landlord, who lets Dave stay in one of his abodes.

Mysterious Dave has also been making some coy threats - on a late night forum posting he threatens that he will teach the Labour party "one last lesson".

So what stroke of genius is Dave planning?

Not something to top Spanker Cyril's 80th birthday bash?

A charidee pardee for a party that lacks charity?

175 years of Liberalism - putting Rochdale on the map?

That could explain the odd press releases about John Bright's statute and some unsubtle similarities with press releases from Rochdale & Littleborough peace group.

175 years of Liberalism?

That leaky vessel that is the Rochdale Lib Dem and their secret comrades aren't too happy with what is planned. They worry it could put them in the spotlight and allow some very awkward questions to be asked.

What have been some of the highlights in the past 175 years?

• Freemasonry, gangsterism and Rochdale Reform Buildings?
  

• "Lifelong liberal" Cyril Smith doing the hokey cokey with his party membership over the years?

• Serious unresolved allegations of sex abuse - Cambridge House and Knowl View School to name just two.

• David Steel's infamous quote published in Private Eye defending Cyril Smith ""All we are talking about are a few spanked bottoms"

• Long standing planning corruption- no word of a Lye?

• a backstabbing, bullying cult of personality?

• Chief Whip Cyril Smith briefing the press about his then leader Jeremy Thorpe (and dead dog Rinka).

• "loyal" Liberal Cyril Smith undermining David Steel with attempts to form and lead a new "democractic" party in the early 1980's. Did this help the Tories and cause bitter divisions in the nacent alliance between the SDP and Liberals?

What about Liberalism from many years ago?

• Lloyd George? Insider share dealing shenanigans with the Marconi wireless companies? Corrupt sale of peerages? A Prime Minister during the bloodiest war in human history? Enforced conscription in Ireland 1917? Disgusting opinions in 1934 about the right for the air force to "bomb n*ggers" in British colonies? Adolf Hitler, described by Lloyd George in 1936 as "the greatest living German"?
  

Poor Dave is having a spot of bother getting key note speakers to attend the shameless Rochdale bash to promote local Lib Dems in the run up to the election.

No wonder. Do they really want to be associated with Cyril Smith and Paul Rowen?

With all those who "unfortunately can't find room in their diary", what sort of party is Dave going to have?

Cheese and Onion Pie followed by Cyril Smith, Paul Rowen and Jimmy Cricket as a comedy trio?

Or could Mark Oaten give a reading from his new book "Screwing Up"?

Perhaps "shocked" Charles Edward Lord would come to chew over the fat about the old days?

...and a whip round from "businessmen" supporters with cash to go to that shadowy unincorporated association, linked to 175 years of liberalism - the "Cobden Bright Trust"?

Paul Rowen refutes claims of "airbrushing"

Rochdale's current MP is very touchy on the issue of airbrushing.

Kevin Maguire's column in the Mirror today raised it.

Paul Rowen got value for money from his Communications Allowance by a Full Power assault via Rochdale Online. It was a very ugly scene.

Paul set the record straight: "I'm a Northern lad. What you see is what you get".


So, did Paul fall for the anti-airbrushing PR via cheeky boy Lembit Opik and the Dove soap's commercial Campaign For Real Beauty...?



Is Paul Rowen 'Adamant' that there is no cover up or airbrushing of history in Rochdale...???

• Cambridge House was never visited by Alderman Cyril Smith?

• Sex abuse in Rochdale never occurred?
  

• Property developers have never given cash to the Lib Dems then mysteriously got planning permission?

• Everything is hunky dory with regeneration in Rochdale. All above board. No funny money?

• Greg Couzens is doing well revitalising Rochdale town centre and he certainly doesn't want Alan Taylor's job (and never wants to be MP)?
  

• All of Paul's Council and Parliamentary expenses and allowances were properly claimed and used appropriately?

• Dave Hennigan just decided to move on and Paul wishes him well?
  

That's OK then.

It's just the problem with digital manipulation is that folk can get caught out.
A few years of a champagne lifestyle can cause things with 'northern lads' to get very ugly.

Unemployment- "million pound" Paul's champagne solutions?

Two people lost their jobs with Paul Rowen MP last week.

One was Westminster researcher Alex Webster.
Did she leave a hidden message on Paul Rowen's website? (the one WE pay for from HIS Communications Allowance).

Under the ironic news title "unemployment soars" is a photo of bespectacled Paul with a glass of champagne in front of him. The photo, attributed to Ms Webster, has the heading "solutions" above it.

What is all this? Is it a Photoshop job? A cruel airbrushing?

Is this a wicked suggestion that Rochdale's current MP looks for "solutions" to the problems of the day with a glass of champers?

As Private Eye have revealed this week, Paul Rowen will have received about a million pounds in Parliamentary salary, expenses and allowances for his time as an MP.
Including that 40p banana.

But not content with just the one job, as Cllr Mulgrew's dad might say..."There's more!"

"two hat" Paul has paid Ugandan discussions for the east African arm of Rochdale property company Corinya.

Paul was also getting "double bubble" expenses as a Rochdale councillor in addition to his MP dosh. Six months after his late night internet confessions about the extra council cash, Paul still hasn't delivered on his promise to come clean on which charidees he supposedly gave the money to.

Then there are other mystery cash streams... Cyril Smith's fundraising and the shadowy Cobden Bright Trust. Add to that, the rent for his Constituency office (paid for via Parliamentary expenses) that goes to Rochdale Reform Buildings Ltd... then back to the Lib Dems?

Plus the Parliamentary cash used for a very expensive stuffing machine for envelopes.

Now that his office "complex" 142a/144 Drake Street has a bar, it can be trebles all round for those seeking "solutions".

Dirty Lib Dem ambitious backstabbing?

Beware the Ides of November.

The runes cast at Drake Street are ominous. Dark clouds are gathering and the porkie swords are out.

Dirty tricks and dirty Lib Dem infighting and backstabbing.

In difficult economic times, "Million Pound" Paul Rowen has let 2 of his staff go. Alex Webster in Westminster and Diddy Dave Hennigan in Rochdale.

PR Paul's press releases have already suffered. Dave's demise remains shrouded in mystery. Although the spin paramedic had been drinking in the Last Chance Saloon for a while, Paul Rowen's method of dispatch was particulaly callous. Dave Hennighan had sacrificed a great deal to promote the public face of pisspoor Paul. Dave left family and friends in South Manchester to rough it in a Heywood Councillor's bedsit and damp Drake St HQ. With every fibby press release and shallow smear, was a little bit of his soul lost?

Adam Power has quickly moved into his post, salary and altar of the Dark Arts.
Dirty, evil backstabber???

But apprentice Adam has form - was he the One who hacked into Rochdale DLP's webpage to replace a photo of Gordon Brown with a Milliband?

He was the idiot caught out lying about MP Tony Lloyd's stance on Cyril Smith and asbestos. The Sergeant at Arms was not impressed.

Adam was also spotted (in cunning woolly hat disguise) photographing grafitti outside Rochdale Labour Party HQ while the paint was still wet.Then the photo mysteriously appeared on a political news blog.

Was Adam's digital pawprints linked to the URL and IP pathways that created a "fake" RAW webpage smearing Rochdale's Labour PCC with anti Zionist. Inciting religious hatred?

What is Paul Rowen getting himself involved in with his new "Agent"?



Has Adam's emailing been spotted outside official Lib Dem circles - encouraging libellous smears, tactics and attacks that Paul Rowen might benefit from but could never put his name to?

But the backstabbing doesn't stop with the knives in Dave Hennighan's back.


Leader of the Council Alan Taylor is dangerously exposed.


"Ambitious" politicians are openly briefing against him and angling for the top job.

Who wants to be the next Leader of the Rochdale Lib Dems before Christmas?
After a few false starts and cock-ups, one of Rochdale's "bootiful people" - "millionaire" Cllr Greg Couzens is still an eager beaver - trimming away on the thick fringe.

But whose noses are being pushed out? Irene Davision? Mo Sharif? The Hothouses?

The knives are out between the various factions witin Rochdale Lib Dems. It is all rather distasteful given the state of Rochdale and the bloody sacrifices being made by some of citizens.

Who is using the bloodbath of Afghanistan to look good? Who suggested Paul Rowen wrap himself in the Union Jack to support the lynch mob against Asda?

Who is allowing former servicemen such as Cllr Bailey and Cllr Clegg to wear their medals with pride whilst furtively communicating outside the party with "Peace Groups" for co-ordinated smears and politiking whilst service personnel are butchered?

Even though Dave has gone, the Sultans of Spin remain at Drake Street with huge wages taken from Parliamentary expenses.

Rochdale is poorer for it.

Paul Rowen MP to be “castrated”?

Before your mind races away dear reader, the castration in mind is not the chemical cocktail linked to scurrilous rumours about Cyril Smith post-Cambridge House allegations and police investigations. Goodness knows what had to be taken to cool such spanking ardour. To control a 30 stone bully, the drugs would have had to floor an elephant. It brings a whole new meaning to “vetting” by Special Branch?

We digress.

Back to Paul Rowen's “castration”, a la Austin Mitchell MP, following the recommendations of Sir Christopher Kelly regarding Parliamentary expenses.

Paul certainly has some balls to go with his bare faced cheek. When the MP expenses scandal broke, Rochdale's current MP said it had “had one of the worst weeks of his political career”. Legal threats were made against the Rochdale Observer. They buckled and printed an apology for an earlier article into Paul Rowen's parliamentary expenses.

"The Rochdale Observer would like to make it clear it has no information that Paul Rowen MP was using parliamentary expenses to fund Liberal Democrat political activities and apologises if any reader got that impression."

A convenient official silence ensued that stiffled facts about Paul Rowen's allowances and expenses. No mention in print of the £4000 donations from Paul's allowances to the North West Lib Dem group for "consultation". No mention of paid adverts going to "Rochdale News" -not a newspaper but a political leaflet printed by the shadowy unincorporated organisation - the Rochdale Liberal Democrat Printing Society. Based at... you guessed it... the Lib Dem HQ and MP office at Drake St.

With the Rochdale Observer gagged, RAW has continued to question the spin and corrupt arguments spun by “Million Pound Paul” and his Drake Street bunch.

By the end of this term Paul Rowen now admits he will receive over a million pounds in Parliamentary salary, allowances and expenses.

He has filled his boots on claiming Communications allowance, second home mortgage interest payments and household items.

All three areas of MP cash that Sir Christopher Kelly was critical of and has recommended scrapping.

No more claims for - Communication Allowance, DVD players and vacuums, mortgage payments for the London apartment.

Following Mitchell's analogy is it fair to suggest that such "savage cuts" could amount to a castration for Paul Rowen?

But, as Jimmy Cricket might say...there's more...

Paul Rowen has failed to account for huge financial black holes in the Rochdale Lib Dem accounts:

• How have “agents” and “caseworkers” David Hennigan, Adam Power and John Swarbrick been paid? What do they do for the money? Who is responsible for the “work” they do?

• One very late night in May, Paul Rowen posted on the internet that he will reveal where all his Rochdale Council expenses were donated for the time in 2005 when he was both an MP and borough councillor. “Mostly catholic” charities apparently, after tax had been paid apparently. Rochdale's current MP promised to come clean “by the weekend”. 6 months on (25 weekends later) nothing has been disclosed.

• Who paid cash to Cyril Smith “Friends of Liberal Democrats” c/o 14 Emma Street? The consolidated ("laundered"?) cash donation was welcomed by Paul Rowen prior to the 2005 general election but he seems rather coy about Cyril's "nod nod, wink wink" letter to 1000 local businessmen asking for Lib Dem donations.

• What is the “Cobden – Bright Trust” c/o Drake Street Rochdale? Who are trustees? Who has donated to it?

• Is it appropriate to describe the the rent setting exercise for Paul Rowen's constituency office as “independent”. Previously, the office was “gifted” for free (in the 2004 accounts this was an estimated gift of "£600 p.a"). Then the 2005 accounts claimed that it was now paid for by parliamentary allowances. The landlord is Rochdale Reform Buildings Ltd (shareholders include Leader of the Council retired “retail fruiterier”Cllr Alan Taylor and estate agent consultant Keith Crossley). So who was the “independent surveyor” that set the new, huge, MP office rent? ….Mr Keith Crossley.

Paul Rowen certainly has some gonads to shamelessly bully the town's newspaper with legal threats relating to his mysterious streams of income.

Is it time someone had Ugandan discussions about his moonlighting for property company Corinya?

Paul's paid involvement related to East Africa. There is talk of childrens homes and charidees over there. But Corinya has a UK division that rents houses out locally. For RAW the most mysterious investment is Corinya's letting of office space to Rochdale Council.

Was this Corinya deal done when Paul Rowen was Leader of Rochdale Council?

These are stony issues, a touch hairy in places. Perhaps even a tough nut to crack. But given Cyril's firm grip on Rochdale is faltering, will the truth finally come out?

Rochdale "rebrand" - sneek preview?

Tommorrow is a big day in the history of our town.

Blue sky thinking outside the box from the Dear Leader Roger Ellis will answer all our woes.

Rochdale will be re-branded (what? a burning hot poker on the arse? -Ed)

Our Glorious "Year Zero" will begin with the "exciting" launch of our town's "visual identity".

All for initially less than £100,000 (plus of course the other regeneration and media budgeting plus costs of all the senior executive buffet munching).

Has RAW been able to get a spy shot of tommorrow's powerpoint presentation?

Here is a bad quality photo that could be a hint of how well our money has been spent.
A bold imaginative, yet honest, glimpse of Exciting Things To Come?