How embarrassing....how low we have fallen. The Deputy Prime Minister of this once great country clubbing in Ibiza.
She does look rather foolish.....but then she is.
She does look rather foolish.....but then she is.
Gawd help us all!
So, Starmer had to remove a very characterful portrait of Lady Thatcher as it 'unsettled' the poor bugger!
Imagine how 'unsettled' the Great Man would be if ever he had to lead the nation in war. It sounds as if he has mental health issues if so affected by a rather good portrait of a truly great leader.
Really quite embarrassing!
Starmer is falling into the same trap.
The Dame is not a pub-goer but understands it to be central to the lives of many as it has for centuries.
Starmer is a mundane criminal lawyer with the instincts of that breed.
Stopping people from doing 'this and that' is very much part of his makeup.
The idea you can stop people smoking in pub gardens is likely to be unenforceable but maybe the PM has been discussing with the Chinese whether he could buy their facial recognition cameras?
Approval ratings for this man have slumped dramatically. This sort of initiative will not help.
Blair had a unique understanding of the 'art of the politically possible'.
Starmer is not a political animal and lacks that special 'nous'.
Will we see next an attempt to stop people from smoking in their gardens?
If tobacco is a toxic substance it should be banned but of course that would further decrease tax revenues to support the lousily managed NHS.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of mediocrity is for good men and (women) to do nothing
There are good and competent people on the Leadership Team. Thalassites, McVeigh and Kemahli spring to mind.
Addenbroke and Rendall are also in the pack. Sadly, Taylor-Smith has probably had enough!
They take their roles seriously and attract little flak.
Each could lead this council with elan and skill.
When Elizabeth Campbell announced she was carrying on they would have realised- had they been close to the history of that time-this was a re-run of the Cockell saga.
Campbell was a shoo-in at that time when there were no willing candidates. Those days are long past.
Elizabeth Campbell is the final link to those troubled times.
Cockell was determined to hang on.
Why would he not?
With a lush lifestyle on the back of the council and various allowances peaking at £125,000 a year it was a 'good number'.
Campbell has different reasons for not wanting to step down. Time for a fixed term of office to avoid this cuckooing.
The leadership team needs to do its duty by the people of the Royal Borough and demand the leader step down.
To miss-quote the great Cromwell, "In the name of the people of RBKC, go!"
This is an RBKC waste management vehicle parked irresponsibly for ten minutes on one of the busiest streets in Knightsbridge.
What was especially idiotic and arrogant was that there was an obvious space he could have used.
After a while, the driver sauntered back. When the Dame and others suggested his parking was dangerous and irresponsible he smirked and said, "do you want my ID".
He then drove on for a few more feet whereupon the Dame walked over and asked for his ID. He then suggested the shocked old thing"fuck off"
The Dame decided to escalate the matter to the Waste Management Dept
Of course, the outcome was predictable. The driver said the old Dame had 'chased' him and gave the impression he was scared for his life. Now the Dame may be scary but at close to eighty it is rather unlikely a strapping and muscular young man would have been frightened of her.
What this episode shows is a decline in behaviour and a lack of proper management. It is all rather sad.
Fighting for all of us!
Loyal Hornets will remember the sheer hell of getting Cockell to give up his massive allowance and hand over the leadership.
The Dame campaigned ruthlessly to expose his ways: she is proud of her role ridding K&C of this greedy man.
We now have a similar problem with Elizabeth Campbell.
She promised that she would step down but has now changed her mind.
She claims she has to stay to defend Conservative values and her decision has nothing to do with hanging on in the hope of a peerage!
Her involvement in the Grenfell tragedy precludes that.
Would those commenting refrain from being rude about the highly principled lady......
Her decision is quite wrong: there are better members of the leadership team than this uninspiring lady. In her tenure staffing levels have shot up and there is a systemic issue of management.
The Dame hears the admin offices in Hornet Street are dark and eerily quiet as staff continue to 'work' (used advisedly) from home.
No private company would ever allow this shambolic situation to exist. It should be noted that over 2000 extra staff have been recruited in the last couple of years. Small wonder council tax is so high.
Campbell should quit now.
Our council is spending a fortune in money and resources to house refugees from Ukraine.
A few questions are begged.
1. Surely Ukraine provides enough 'safe havens' without displaced people having to travel thousands of miles to live in Kensington & Chelsea?
2. When peace inevitably arrives will these people expect to stay on?
3. Why should K&C bear this burden: it is the most stretched of councils with long housing waiting lists.
4. The Dame hears some of those are 'refugees' from Ukrainian conscription.
Any refugee should have been told to make his/her way to areas of the UK with less housing stress.
Finally, is the council proposing to open its arms to Russian refugees from Kursk?
It's the sort of idiotic PR stunt the £170k a year head of comms might well put up to Cllr Campbell.
Poor old Scott Dylan needs to concentrate on his upcoming sentencing.
The Dame received this nonsense from the backstreets of Punjab. Dylan's 'hot shot lawyer' has written to Amazon to moan!
You could not make it up....
The only 'Zubair Ahmad' is a distinguished KC in Hare Court. Dylan's 'Mr Ahmad' claims to own the 'Work' which leads one to assume he actually made the AI generated image of his illustrious client....
Zubair Ahmad
10 street Bakharwah sharqi Dera Ghazi Khan Punjab 32200 Pakistan
+923343172100
16-08-2024
Dear Amazon Legal Team,
The infringing material appears at the following location:
https://fromthehornetsnest.
Original link of my client's copyright content is given below:
It has come to my attention that you have made an unauthorized use of my client's copyrighted work in the preparation of a work derived there from. We have reserved all rights in the Work, which was first published.
Infringer neither asked for nor received permission to use the Work as the basis nor to make or distribute copies of it. Therefore, I believe you have willfully infringe my client's rights under the DMCA act.
I demand that you immediately cease the use and distribution of all infringing works derived from the Work, and all copies, undistributed copies of the same, or destroy such copies immediately and that you desist from this or any other infringement of my client's rights in the future.
I am providing this notice in good faith and with the reasonable belief that the use of the described material in the manner complained is not authorized by myself, my agents, or the law.
I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the owner of the copyrighted material involved
Sincerely,
Zubair Ahmad
Legal representative
This comment below was placed by friends of Mason and Dylan.
He asks why the Dame is gunning for Mason and Dylan: simple answer? Numerous victims of these two read the Dame. One from 2006 wrote to the Dame with details of Dylan's 'issues' in 2006 and the anger of victims.
He goes on to portray his friends as victims.
This is what Judge Rajah had to say about the duo.
The judge described Mason’s “various explanations” of the transfer of shares to be “deliberate falsehoods” and “deliberately false evidence intended to deceive the Court”.
One gets the distinct impression the judge thinks Mason, Dylan and Antrobus are not to be trusted!
And this is what the British media had to say:
1. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/conrans-dream-collapses-into-chaos-
vvk5jfcft
2. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/apr/08/suite-dreams-how-luxury-
sofa-firm-makerson-left-its-clients-standing
3. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/katie-investigates/luxury-sofa-company-
took-3k-now-sued-complaining-trustpilot/
4. https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/northwest/news/2111229-report-filed-on-
conduct-of-inc-and-co-director
5. https://www.bigissuenorth.com/news/2023/03/sofa-so-good-2/
6. https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/northwest/news/2109171-the-murky-world-
of-inc-and-the-questions-jack-mason-wont-answer
7. https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/northwest/news/2108742-inc-and-co-
funder-cleaning-up-its-loan-books8. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/conran-brand-takeover-mired-in-red-ink-
9qr6tktm3
9. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11751307/Sofa-firm-launched-
Habitat-founder-Sir-Terence-Conrans-grandson-Felix-sells-1.html
10. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11921715/EDEN-CONFIDENTIAL-
Zara-Mike-Tindall-break-convention-shunning-Royals-lawyers-Chester-firm.html
and this is what Mason wrote to one victim:
" We have nothing to hide so fuck your privileged friends and yourself! In fact, go fuck each other , you inbreeds!" (sic)
A comment....
"I've always wondered why The Dame seems to have such a big problem with these individuals. (Anyone having dealings with these two has big problems)
Hornets will recall how Dylan and friends attempted to have FTHN taken down.... for months they succeeded.
From The Business Desk
Michael Taylor, Editor
Two Manchester entrepreneurs behind Inc & Co have been found to be in contempt of court by breaching three freezing orders, the High Court in London has ruled.
Barclays Bank brought a civil case against Jack Mason and David Antrobus claiming they conspired to move assets offshore in breach of various freezing orders brought against them and their business associate Scott Dylan.
They face a further challenge from Barclays that £13.7m was taken from the bank without authorisation. Both Mason, the chief executive, and Antrobus, the chief technology officer of Inc & Co, claimed the asset transfers were done without their knowledge or consent.
In the Rolls Building at the Royal Courts of Justice Mr Justice Rajah said he found their evidence at different times to be “inherently incredible”, “strained credulity”, and contained “deliberate falsehoods”.
He said he was “satisfied, beyond reasonable doubt, that Mr Antrobus and Mr Mason breached..(various freezing orders) … by knowingly assisting or permitting” transfers of shares.
Barclays’ wider claim is that Dylan, Mason and Antrobus, and others, conspired to take assets to the value of £13.7m, for which they are subject to freezing orders. In defiance of those orders they transferred shares linked to Fresh Thinking Group, an independent capital investment group, now in liquidation, to two new entities set up in the offshore British Virgin Islands.
Initially all three businessmen insisted the transfers were carried out by a Seychelles-based director “Rea Barreau” and that they were unaware of the transactions.
Yet in a dramatic about-turn after two days of the hearing Scott Dylan admitted to two breaches, which took his colleagues by surprise.
Dylan admitted that on or about 23 March 2022 he knowingly assisted in and/or permitted the breaches of freezing order by transferring shares to a British Virgin Islands company.
He also admitted to most of the “accepted facts” laid out in the Contempt Application against him with the express proviso that his acceptance is confined to the Contempt Application against him (including at any sentencing hearing) and will not be used or held against him for any other purpose.
The judge said he didn’t accept the explanation that the transfers were the work of “Rea Barreau”, nor that she was even appointed as a director of the businesses as was claimed.
The judge said both Antrobus and Mason “presented as competent, confident and able business people” and that “their evidence that they had naively and unquestioningly accepted important matters they were told by Mr Dylan or others, or signed important documents that were drafted for them by nameless people, strained credulity”.
After describing the unlikely scenario whereby directors of a company would have no contact “of any kind” with someone of the status “Rea Barreau” supposedly held, in a company subject to litigation and freezing orders, the judge went on to say: “There was no contact between them at all. This is very far removed from the real commercial world. It is inherently incredible.”
On Mason’s evidence the Judge said: “I can be sure, and am sure, that Mr Mason’s various explanations about this alleged transfer of shares were deliberate falsehoods.”
Mason, Antrobus and Dylan will be sentenced for the contempt breach in October.
Mason, who lives in Barcelona, has been required to surrender his passport.
As previously reported on TheBusinessDesk.com, a court date of January 13, 2025, has been agreed for the full civil case brought by Barclays Bank against Dylan, Gareth Dylan, Dave Antrobus, plus Sally Ann Glover, a relative of one of the other defendants, over £13.7m it claims they took from the bank without authorisation and for their “personal enrichment”.
A second claim is brought against Fresh Thinking Group (now known as Old3 Limited), Mason and Inc Travel Group Limited (now known as Old2 Limited) which are both now in compulsory liquidation.
Barclays’ case is that all the individual defendants were also involved in a conspiracy to cause damage to Barclays by unlawful means. The defendants deny the conspiracy allegation and are contesting the claims made by Barclays.
The claims arise from the transfer, by subsidiaries of Fresh Thinking Group, of some £13.7m from accounts held with Barclays which, at the time, had no or no material credit balance.
Barclays says that there were some 830 payments of amounts just below the £50,000 threshold that would have caused the payment requests to have been referred for further approval.
Barclays says that the money went to Fresh Thinking Group and one of its other subsidiaries, FT Ops Limited before onward disbursement and the “personal enrichment” of the defendants
Reproduced courtesy of The Business Desk.