Maureen Webber, the council’s cabinet member for community engagement and council business, added:

“No one received a pay cut as a result of the changes to terms and conditions. The amendments affected additional allowances some staff received, such as overtime and mileage reimbursement. Ms Wood also forgets to mention that job evaluation, a completely separate exercise to the terms and conditions changes, led to 80% of our employees either staying the same, or increasing, their salaries.

“We are one of the only councils in Wales not to make people redundant this year and there have also been no cuts to services which the public rely upon.”

Rhondda Cynon Taf council has paid the legal company Eversheds almost £500,000 for its legal work since 2008 – including £95,739 relating specifically to a controversial deal that saw staff forced to accept pay cuts and poorer working conditions.

Figures obtained by a Plaid Cymru member using the Freedom of Information Act revealed that Eversheds picked up £164,547 in 2008-09, £169,345 in 2009-10 and £162,660 in 2010-11 for its legal work on behalf of Rhondda Cynon Taf council.

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/11/24/council-paid-leg...

Russell Roberts and his gang paid Eversheds picked up £164,547 in 2008-09, £169,345 in 2009-10 and £162,660 in 2010-11 for its legal work on behalf of Rhondda Cynon Taf council.

What councillor Maureen Webber doesn’t say is 20% had a pay cut, another load of RCT rubbish is job evaluation! Fact I know people working for RCT doing the same job same hours for less money.

Vote for Labour next May and get more of the same bull**** you know it makes sense.

This level of legalised corruption is rife throughout the whole country; that is the only way I can describe it. It's not just RCT who are guilty of such excesses and blatant milking of the system with no accountability.

Britain is a kleptocracy, whereby the brigands who run it, look after their own kind at all the top levels. There is a blatant double standard at work here too, in that what applies to the minions at the bottom, i.e. loss of jobs, rewriting of contracts, and deliberate ripping off of pensions does not apply above a certain level.

The question I've always asked is, where is the cut off point for that level; at what stage does the rule of high salaries and pensions, with no accountability, begin and end?

These people also delude themselves that because they are in those positions, they somehow deserve to be there because they are the best there is and therefore deserve every penny of their ill-gotten gains. They have so much responsibility and have to be on the ball so as to steer the organisation through very difficult times...You know the jargon; it's the same old spiel that all the top honchos wheel out to justify their undeserved positions.

I'm an electronics engineer by profession. I have over 40 years experience behind me, coupled with high qualifications in the servicing and maintenance of expensive and complex electronic equipment. I'm very good at what I do. I too am the best there is.

In fact, just like these deluded souls at the top of RCT's management, and all the others in the upper echelons in our industries and services who pay themselves salaries they believe themselves worthy of, I'm also deserving of a similar sum, with a pension pot to match.

But will I get it? Not on your life. In their minds they are much more important than I am. In fact they are probably up to 50 and more times more important than I am, because they are skilled in the art of waffle and b***s**t, and know how to look after themselves to the exclusion of all the others who are equally as good at what they do, but don't have the power to dictate their terms.

I'm afraid therefore that this notion of us all being in it together was shot down in flames on the first day it was spouted by the Cameron gang in Parliament. Those of us who really know how to do our jobs without waffle and b***s**t knew that from the start anyway, and could see it for the sheer nonsense that it's turned out to be.

I love to hear these people try to defend the indefensible, and of course, every time I hear some of them on the TV or radio telling us why they are so deserving, it's always the same old rubbish that anyone with an ounce of wit about him could shoot down with ease.

What they cannot admit to is that are just a bunch of greedy incompetents who have only managed to rise to the top by playing the system and by knowing the right contacts. That may not be so in all cases of course, but it's a safe bet in many of them.

Yes, I too remember reading that article by George Monbiot. Spot on, I thought at the time, and describes well the fallacy that these deluded souls live under. They are utterly convinced that they are in some way special.

I suppose that if you repeat a lie often enough you will eventually come to believe it yourself; or as Dr. Goebels infamously said, "The bigger the lie, the more likely people are to believe it."

That certainly applies here in RCT alright, and it's not all about the overinflated salaries and pensions of the top dogs either, but about how they continue to believe that the Labour Party is a socialist party, concerned with the betterment of society as a whole.

We know of course, looking at these salaries and the allowances that councillors pay themselves, that that statement is a long way from the truth. They are there solely for self advancement and self promotion; milking the system for all it's worth, nothing more, nothing less.

And the proof of that is that they are eager and willing to take those payments. They are legally entitled to them of course; nobody disputes that, but in an area like RCT, with unemployment, deprivation and illnesses brought on by poverty, they don't have to take the full amount of their allowances.

Seeing as we are all in it together, as we are reminded, why don't they forego those payments and share some of the pain that the people they represent are feeling? I suppose that such sacrifices are beyond our socialist friends in the Labour Party though, eh?

Still, at least under such trying circumstances as we are seeing right now, their true colours are showing, and the hypocrisy and double standards they live by are exposed for all to see. The trouble is of course, that so far not enough people have opened their eyes to the scandal that these people represent.

Maybe though, as conditions worsen in the very near future, as I'm sure they will, the greed and skulduggery of councillors and council officials will become more apparent, until even the blind will know that something nasty is going on under their very noses.

As the pig in Animal Farm so aptly put it, "We're all equal, but some are more equal than others."

Sums up RCT's Labour Group to a tee I'd say, and when surveying the allowances they receive every year, it's easy to see which ones are the most equal of all.

When shall we start talking about backhanders for land development permission lol.

I'm joking of course! Never, ever happened!

I understand we have been discussing waste by the legal department at RCT, I only know to well of the cost of the “supposed” incompliance of the legal department http://tinyurl.com/ceyzs7w

We as ratepayers contribute to the funding of South Wales Police; millions have been spent on acquiring prosecutions against allegedly corrupt South Wales Police Officers at the Lynette White trial.

All to no avail it would seem, again millions of pounds wasted and allegedly corrupt South Wales Police Officers getting away with it.

What message is that sending out to the public?

A law for the Police and another for everyone else.

CPS update regarding Lynette White trial

Thursday 1st December 2011

The CPS has today decided to discontinue proceedings in the trial of eight former police officers accused of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Simon Clements, the CPS reviewing lawyer in the case said: “The allegations against these men arose out of their investigation into the murder of Lynette White. Three men were wrongly convicted in 1990 of her murder and had their convictions quashed on appeal.
“These were extremely serious allegations that men who were then serving police officers had fabricated evidence to frame innocent people. We were satisfied at the time that this was a case which should go before a jury for trial.
“However, at the request of the judge on 28 November, a review by the prosecution of a certain section of the unused material has uncovered that some copies of files, originally reviewed but not considered discloseable at that time, were missing. This information related to complaints made by one of the original defendants to the IPCC and another complaint relating to the investigation. On inquiry, it was found that these copies had been destroyed and no record of the reason for their destruction had been made by the police officers concerned. This was the first time that prosecution counsel or the CPS had been made aware of this destruction.

“Although this relates to copies and not original files, it is now impossible to say for certain whether the copy was in fact exactly the same material that had been provided by the IPCC, reviewed and then destroyed. The destruction of those copies, along with the non-recording of the destruction, meant that it would be impossible to give meaningful re-assurances that no other material had been treated similarly, thus undermining the defence’s confidence in the disclosure process.
“Given the stage reached in the proceedings, the correct course of action is to offer no evidence, thus inviting verdicts of not guilty and ending the trial.”
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, QC, has been consulted and is extremely concerned about the outcome. Both he and the Chief Constable for South Wales Police have agreed that there must be a full and detailed review of the circumstances in which this decision has had to be made, and that the review will have the full support and cooperation of South Wales Police.
Sent on behalf of Deputy Chief Constable Colette Paul

Here cometh the big brush Russell where be that carpet?

IPCC to investigate allegations against South Wales Police following Lynette White trial collapse

2 December 2011

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is to independently investigate allegations against South Wales Police following the collapse of the Lynette White trial at Swansea Crown Court yesterday.

The IPCC ‘s investigation will look at issues surrounding the destruction of copies of files by South Wales Police officers which contributed to the premature end of the Lynette White trial.

On 1 December 2011 the prosecution offered no evidence and all ten defendants were acquitted.

The IPCC investigation follows the voluntary referral of the matter by South Wales Police.

Evidence 'lost' and/or destroyed deliberately; £30 million of public money down the drain again, you watch this die a quick and silent death.

Another pointless enquiry that will report back some time way in the future. Well timed so that it's on the edge of the collective memory, spouting some sterile statements where no one will be held accountable, no one will be blamed. As usual, the "lessons will be learned" rubbish will be tripped out no doubt.

How many lessons do they need to learn before they actually act? Or even become (god forbid) proactive? If my dog had to learn as many lessons as those in power regularly admit they need to learn I'd be wondering if there was some kind of shortfall in his mental capacities.

No doubt the reported outcome will be the briefest of the brief buried deep in a newspaper (if at all) way after the latest sex life revelation of some plastic breasted or one time married to a celeb vacuous simpleton that was quickly expelled from Big Brother or The Jungle.

The whole damned system is corrupt.

Graeme.

Thanks very much. Although they didn't print it in the Ponty Observer or the Rhondda Leader. Maybe next week? We shall see.

The devil does take care of his own and in RCT he concentrates much of his time and effort it seems to me. It has to stop.

Graeme.

So the till will be shut very quietly this year so the CV leader will not be ready to punce and exposes the sneak thieves???

Cucumber sandwiches anyone !!!!!

STATEMENT FROM IPCC COMMISSIONER SARAH GREEN ON THE LYNETTE WHITE INVESTIGATION
​26 January 2012

“The Independent Police Complaints Commission has now verified that the documents that the Lynette White trial at Swansea Crown Court on 1 December 2011 was told may have been destroyed have been discovered and were not shredded as first thought.

“The court was told that some enquiries had been made about documents relating to complaints made to the IPCC itself and that it seemed that these documents may have been shredded on the orders of SWP Senior Investigating Officer Chris Coutts.

“The documents were found in the original boxes that the IPCC had sent those files to South Wales Police as part of the trial disclosure process in 2009. These boxes were still in the possession of SWP and have subsequently been verified.

"The IPCC investigation has not yet concluded and will also need to establish what happened to these two files of documents. The IPCC will also continue to liaise with the review being carried out by the director of public prosecutions. We have of course informed the DPP about the discovery of these documents.

“The IPCC will of course publish its findings in due course.”

On 1 December 2011 the prosecution in the Lynette White trial at Swansea Crown Court offered no evidence and all 10 defendants were acquitted.

The IPCC investigation is into possible actions by police officers following the voluntary referral of the disclosure matter by South Wales Police.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/01/26/lynette-white-co...

Perfect timing?

Dear god!

Graeme.