Redaction in action

Redaction is in the Press a lot at the moment with the censored publication of MP expenses. As well as the removal of sensitive information, it can also be a form of editing.

The Morley Obtiser often edits letters to the editor for reasons unstated. Often it is to add clarity or for brevity; sometimes it is to avoid sensitive or controversial subjects.

This letter written by former independent Leeds City Councillor Stewart McArdle was published on Wednesday 17th June, however the Editor omitted what Stewart considered to be the most revealing and damaging part of the letter. The paragraphs omitted are shown in bold.

The recent spate of letters concerning the Annual Meeting of Morley Town Council and there being only three members of the public in attendance deserve some further comment. This may infer a number of things; such as that, members of the electorate have no interest in it, nor its relevance, or even may object to paying the precept!

Of course, Mr. Bywater is presuming there will be a town council by the time of the next all-out elections in 2011. By this I mean that the legal case/tribunal of the former town clerk versus Morley Town Council has yet to be resolved as the council has collectively decided to contest the decision made against them by an Independent Panel. So there is a strong likelihood that more money will be incurred in further legal costs with the legal profession being the only winner.

Latest figures released for expenditure are attributed to the civic year 2007/8 and show a rise of £47,000 against the coding of General Administration. This is not broken down but, in all probability a significant amount is due to legal costs. I also understand that the reserves of Morley Town Council diminished by almost £34,000 and added together, is a significant portion of the Annual Budget and more importantly, your precept money.

The former town clerk did not leave the post until Christmas 2007 so that is an awful lot to spend on legal costs in twelve weeks but, everyone knows that barristers do not come cheap!

As the tribunal did not take place till October 2008, the figures for 2008/9 should make interesting reading when released. Will there be enough in the council pot by then?

Yours sincerely

via e-mail

Stewart McArdle

Obtiser letters

Robert Finnigan replies:

Actions speak for themselves (Journalist headline)

YOU have recently printed letters from BNP councillor Chris Beverley and former Independent councillor Stewart McArdle criticising the Morley Borough Independents. Both claim to avoid publicity yet are quick to use the newspapers to further their own self-promotion – thereby using the same process they condemn others for using.
The Morley Borough Independents will continue to work hard to deliver on the programme that got them elected and will not be detracted from this work by those who chose to bicker in the newspapers.

Finally, contrary to BNP Coun Beverley’s report last week, the ‘A’ Frame on Millbeck Approach is being partially financed by Morley Borough Independent Coun Terry Grayshon. We believe that in such cases actions speak much louder than words.

COUN ROBERT FINNIGAN

MORLEY BOROUGH INDEPENDENT

I think it succeeds in making Chris Beverley look stupid. It doesn't actually challenge any of Stewart's points though...

Ripples from Stewart Mc's letter last week

A couple of letters, but not eactly earth shattering.

The first is from Derek Bradley and I think his flowery prose obscures the message somewhat.

Stewart McArdle's valedictory letter encompassed many views which he has long held and, more importantly, has long applied.
Indeed Rudyard Kipling may have coined the phrase "true to his salt" for such people throughout the world, not just the Indian continent.
His is correct also in his forecast that being "a true independent" is to commit political suicide in Morley, think Slingsby, think Welham!
Would your readers, if not Stewart, accept that "a rose by any other name
would smell as sweet"?
The larger picture on Morley Town Council is that, yes, they all come under the same banner, but the various elected councillors have different issues introduced to them by our citizens which they must pursue if they are true to the promise they made to supporters during the run up to the last election.
Stewart infers that now we are congregated under the one party banner then the party will decide what to push and what to discard.
This must not be confused with a councillor independently pursuing a citizen's concerns, either direct to the relevant department of Leeds City Council or, by choice, within the committees of Morley Town Council.
This keeps the citizen informed and safe in the knowledge that will apply to future concerns also.
I have been following this simple axiom since council year 2000.
DEREK BRADLEY
MBI, Scatcherd Ward
MORLEY TOWN COUNCIL

Meanwhile, Chris Beverley of the BNP City Councillor responds (but not to follow up any of the allegations he made). A strange mixture of tongue in cheek parody and pot calling kettle blackism.

Stewart McArdle's letter in last week's Observer and Advertiser shed some well needed light on the inner workings of the Morley Borough Independents Party.
Mr McArdle spoke about the endless press releases and letters sent out by the MBIs in order to create the illusion that they are responsible for the work of others. A perfect example of this can be found in last week's paper with the article entitled 'New move to solve motorcycle problem.'
The implication is that the Morley Borough Independents have been responsible for these measures. As usual, however, that is not the case. For a start, the ginnel that is to benefit from the A-frame deterrent is on Millside Walk, not Millbeck Approach. The MBI's have not even checked their facts before trying to claim credit for other people's work.
I have been in touch with a number of local residents from this area over the past year regarding the continued problems with anti-social behaviour associated with this ginnel, which includes the issue of the illegal riding of motorbikes through it.
I have liaised with the local police and also youth workers who have targeted this area, and I have also been in touch with various council officers and departments with a view to the possibility of having the ginnel closed altogether (which a considerable number of local residents want) or at least to have the issue of illegal motorbike riding addressed through
such measures as those discussed above.
I was happy to recently find out that an 'A'-frame has been approved for this location, which should at least stop motorbikes being ridden through this ginnel, if not address the other related problems. Whilst I am happy with this result, I had not intended to send out a press release about this, as I believe that councillors should spend their time just getting on with their job and helping people with issues like this, and less time crowing about such achievements in the press.
Nevertheless, if people would prefer to see an MBI-style comedy press release from me regarding this issue, complete with a photo of me grinning and pointing at the newly-installed A-frame, please let me know and I will see what I can do. I might even invite the MBIs along for the photo-shoot!
COUN CHRIS BEVERLEY
British National Party
MORLEY SOUTH, LEEDS CITY COUNCIL

Meanwhile, Morleytoday.co.uk gives errors whilst morleyobserver.co.uk goes through (although the site is actually still widely based around morleytoday.co.uk URLs at present).

Perhaps the paper have wised up that "MorleyToday" was more realistically "MorleyLastWeek" and maybe a name change might be in the offing?

UPDATE: Morleytoday.co.uk working again- it just seems rather flaky at times.

MBIs help labour shock

The letters page Councillor thank yous are now coming to an end, although there was another "Uriah Heep" humbled one.

Ex-Councillor Stuart McArdle has a letter in the Obtiser that comes as a surprise...


perhaps the revelation that the MBI's were delivering leaflets for Labour candidate Jack Dunn will come as a shock to many.


Read the whole thing HERE

As suspected, MBIs now have a lot more clout on the Leeds minority administration.

Other Obtiser articles

In the paper, BNP Councillor Nick Griffin describes how the other parties " behaved disgracefully " during the campaign, presumably referring to the Searchlight leaflets and the anti-BNP slant of the Labour leaflets.

A little bird tells me, however, that the police contacted him during the election to enquire about what the MBIs had put out that was supposedly illegal and libellous as the leaflet claimed that the police had been contacted and nothing had been heard at Morley Police Station. His reply was to the effect of he had no idea what it was about...

In amongst the thanks to the electorate by various candidates, there is a letter from Derek Bradley's Wife, Hazel, commiserating for the stalwarts who had lost their seat.

IN writing to thank the many voters who have had the confidence in us to represent their interests in our town and Scatcherd ward, our thoughts turn to two former town council stalwarts who will no longer represent parts of the Morley electorate.
I refer, of course to Mrs Amy Teale and Stuart A Welham.
My husband tells me of Amy's unfailing courtesy whenever addressing councillors within and out of the council chamber. Her questions on issues were well researched and penetrating and she always appeared to have the support of her fellow councillors. She always led from the front.
How do you condense 45 years political service into a few lines? With great difficulty.
Stuart served the people of Morley unswervingly both on our old, illustrious borough council as a Labour councillor, thence on to our new town council as an independent since inception in year 2000.
He regularly brought some of the traditional wordplay of the borough before the new town council and - by so doing - reminded us all of the right way and the wrong way to address the Councils a body.
For many years he was chairman of the Highways Committee and always made sure the interests of our citizens was of prime importance, indeed paramount.
His being fluent in German also suggests his motto could well be "ich dien" (I serve) - and he did, too.
We shall miss more councillors in the future. Let us hope they have elegies such as these.
COUN MRS H P BRADLEY
Scatcherd Ward,
Morley Town Council

The letter has the tone of being written by Derek himself and the praise for Amy seems a bit over the top- she frequently demonstrated that she was clueless on procedural matters and could get hopelessly muddled if the meeting strayed off-message from the briefing. This is someone who thought that converting a former toilet block to a Cafe couldn't be allowed because it would be a health hazard...

The praise for Stuart Welham is also somewhat over the top- although I admired his political incorectness, he would frequently make derogatory comments of others that were clearly audible but discreetly ignored for the sake of an easy time of it. He also typified the area in his hubris- You can always tell a Yorkshireman but you cannot tell him much...

Morley South Candidates

From last weeks Obtiser, the choices I have on offer within my home Ward for Leeds City Council.

(Click for a more legible version)

Morley Obtiser politics special

This week, candidate testimonials for the three Leeds City Council seats have been published.

Bob Evans, the Editor, was so underwhelmed that he editorialised about it.

One thing does strike me, reading through the statements from the candidates this year.
It appears that politicians from all parties are claiming credit for the same things and are also wanting the same things to make Morley a better place.
If that's the case, why is there any need for political parties?

You can read the whole thing here.

Obtiser letters

The Morley Obtiser was supposedly putting up some election pages online but they don't seem to be there yet.

However, I notice there are a number of letters online, some (but not all) of which I've previously put up at Morleygate.

Here are a few others connected to the Town Council and politics in general. letter, letter, letter, letter, letter, letter, letter, opinion

Another Wednesday, more letters...

Three pertinent letters this week.

The first is from an observer at the March Town Council meeting. The title was the width of the Postbag.


I don't know who he is but I am pleased that my thoughts on what observers might have thought of us are on the mark as far as he is concerned.

The second is from Amy Teale, leader of the Labour Group.


To save you looking it up, here are two definitions of petulant

pet·u·lant (pĕch'ə-lənt) pronunciation
adj.

1. Unreasonably irritable or ill-tempered; peevish.
2. Contemptuous in speech or behavior.

[Latin petulāns, petulant-, insolent, from petere, to assail.]
petulance pet'u·lance or pet'u·lan·cy n.
petulantly pet'u·lant·ly adv.

I have to say that Amy's letter betrays a huge level of ignorance of debating matters. When proposing an amendment,it is not permitted to actually discuss the motion first as the amendment will be refused by the Chairman in those circumstances. (You can't speak for or against a motion and then subsequently amend it- it would give you two bites of the cherry.) My proposition was democratically rejected but there was no effort to explore it first. At that point, the amendment having been lost, I was then entitled to speak on the original motion and would have done so had I not lost the opportunity to do so shortly afterwards. (I was happy to let a couple of others speak first (keeping your powder dry!) and that was my downfall
Her points about Derek Bradley being wrong in blaming just the Labour party have merit, but she spoils it with a personal attack about having "lost the plot".

having the opportunity to raise concerns in the proper place (the Chamber) is exactly the point I am making and has obviously sailed straight over her head.

her suggesting that I would rather remain silent in the Chamber and then go to the press is at best disingenious- did she not hear me stress that I wished to speak at the meeting?

As for blatant electioneering, it seems somewhat of a ridiculous comment seeing as how I'm not standing again! I have no idea what Derek Bradley's intentions are though.

Amy, I'm waving goodbye to you from the window of the Cluetrain that you missed...

Finally, one fromDerek Bradley.

I'm a bit puzzled by this and wonder if he has got confused.One Motion on whether to give funding to a charity was indeed deferred after I picked several holes in the proposal. However, the Morley Together Motion was accepted by a majority- but at breakneck speed and with abuse of procedure-it must be that he blinked and missed it!

The other supportive letter

Letter of support

This is the letter from Derek Bradley. It is in two halves because it spanned two columns on the letters page.

Whilst he is correct that Labour did leap on the perceived Racist comment, the move to the vote was proposed by Tom leadley, Independent Councillor and the Independent Group Whip (i.e. chief cat herder!)

Press reactions

Well, the Wednesday letters page was slightly unexpected. There was a mild rebuttal from Colin Challen MP, telling me I was rather wide of the mark about Morley Together being partisan. There was a letter from someone using my stance to make a point previously made about Mayor Bob not standing down after announcing his candidacy for Morley North. There was a supportive letter from Cllr Bradley, which, however, blamed it all on Labour. The other letters were from old Labour complaining about New Labour, a familiar position.

Cuttings up in due course.

Scans from last week's paper

Letter to the Editor

There has been an unhealthy stampede to sign up to MP Colin Challen's Morley Today campaign. To do so is admirable as it appears to have noble aims. However, I am skeptical of taking these things at face value because there is something Macarthyist about pledges like this: if you don't sign, then by default you have ticked the NO box which says "I'm a Racist" next to it. Where is the third box that says "No thanks, I'm not interested, don't pre-judge me because I choose to ignore this."?

And now, in Morley Mirror, Labour's pre-election election leaflet, it all becomes apparent. It is little more than a partisan attempt to get Labour back into local power.

People of Morley, we have been suckered. I think Colin Challen needs to tell us a lot more about where this idea came from, when he can make time from saving the planet, that is.